Victims deserve to know status of their rape kits
Despite all its best efforts, your government just cannot seem to get it right on the issue of rape kits.
We let thousands of them pile up untested on warehouse shelves. Then, as we worked to clear that backlog, we left many survivors of sexual assault out of the loop and in the dark about the status of the evidence in their kit. Some were notified, some were not, and some did not even know that their kit had been tested. That was unacceptable, but now we have an opportunity to make things right for survivors by creating a tracking system for rape kits.
Prior to 2016, Florida did not set statewide standards or expectations for the submission or testing of rape kits, and a 2015 survey by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement found more than 13,000 of them had gone untested. After that, the Legislature provided funding to clear the backlog and mandated that kits be sent to labs within 30 days of being received by law enforcement. While those reforms were a major step in the right direction, they did not include adequate accountability measures or consider the needs of survivors. That is what compelled me to file House Bill 673, Gail’s Law, which I believe is the natural next step in addressing lingering issues.
Gail’s Law requires the Florida Department of Law Enforcement to create a statewide database for tracking rape kits and notifying victims. No such system currently exists, leaving sexual assault survivors without critical information about their cases. Gail’s Law would add Florida to a list of 30 other states that already have statewide tracking systems for rape kits. More important, it provides a means for accountability that includes survivors in the process and ensures that they have access to information on their case if they want it.
Gail’s Law is named after Gail Gardner, who survived a vicious sexual assault in 1988 by an armed man who broke into her home and raped her at knifepoint. Despite courageously consenting to a forensic exam where evidence was collected, Gail had to wait nearly 30 years before her kit was tested. During those 30 years, Gail kept looking out her window, terrified that her attacker was still stalking her. In November of last year, Orlando police finally identified Gail’s attacker as a man who was already in prison and whose DNA matched to 15 other sexual assault cases in Florida.
After working with Gail on this bill, I know that she wants to make a difference in the lives of other survivors. She is determined that she will not let what happened to her remain just a tragedy.
A new rape occurs almost once every hour in Florida. Sadly, many survivors do not have access to the services and support that they need to recover and heal. By passing Gail’s Law, we can address the historical lack of accountability surrounding rape kits, eliminate the potential for them to go untested and empower survivors with information on the status of their cases as they move through the criminal justice system.