On Friday, April 8, the US Department of Justice announced the two recipients of an action research grant targeting untested rape kits. Houston, Texas and Wayne County, Michigan will be receiving $176,000 and $200,000, respectively to, “identify underlying reasons why sexual assault kit evidence is not tested and to develop practices to improve the criminal justice response to sexual assault.”

The funding, administered by the National Institute of Justice, a branch of the US Department of Justice, is the first of a two phase project. According to the press release:

In Phase I, for which this FY 2010 funding was awarded, researchers will team up with representatives from the police department, crime lab, prosecutor’s office and community-based victim services organizations in Wayne County and Houston. The teams will develop a strategy to tackle their problems, with special emphasis on how and when to notify victims when their SAK (which may be years old) is going to be tested.

In Phase II of the project, NIJ seeks to provide additional funds to help the two jurisdictions implement their strategies and evaluate their effectiveness. NIJ anticipates that these two projects will produce transportable lessons and strategies for other jurisdictions experiencing similar problems.

Joyful Heart is thrilled that both jurisdictions will have the opportunity to research and develop strategies to end their backlogs. An article from the Texas Tribune in late January reported that Houston has 16,000 untested rape kits in police storage facilities. Detroit, Wayne County’s most populous city, has at least 7,000 untested rape kits, and according to Wayne County District Attorney Kym Worthy, there may be as many as 10,000 – 16,000 kits in law enforcement storage when all of Detroit’s untested kits are accounted for.

The Action Research Model

The action research project steps, courtesy of the National Institute of Justice

President Obama and Vice President Biden announced the grant opportunity at the White House during a Domestic Violence Awareness Month event in late October. Mariska Hargitay, Joyful Heart’s Founder & President, Maile Zambuto, our Executive Director, and Sarah Tofte, Director of Advocacy & Policy, were at the White House for the announcement–you can read Sarah’s post about it here.

Joyful Heart enthusiastically committed to supporting Wayne County, Michigan as an unfunded partner in the project. In this role, Joyful Heart staff will work collaboratively with the project partners to identify and understand the factors that caused or contributed to Detroitʼs sexual assault kit backlog; develop strategies for eliminating the backlog; develop protocols and best practices for the processing of sexual assault evidence that can translate to other jurisdictions across the country; and identify and support implementation of strategies for improving the response of the criminal justice system to victims of sexual assault from the victimʼs initial report through prosecution. Joyful Heart will also provide Wayne County’s community of sexual assault responders and advocates with access to our Heal the Healers program, including a series of workshops on secondary trauma, healing, and self-care. We are so excited to be a part of this opportunity.

You can read the full press release from the Department of Justice here.