Dear Friend, In October, we first told you about The Accountability Project, our initiative to uncover the extent of the rape kit backlog in cities across the United States. From the first four cities that provided data to us—obtained through public records requests—we discovered more than 12,000 untested rape kits sitting in storage facilities. Today, we’ve expanded our knowledge about the rape kit crisis nationwide with the release of data on the number of untested kits from five additional cities: Charlotte, North Carolina: 1,019 kits Jacksonville, Florida: 1,943 kits Kansas City, Missouri: 1,324 kits Portland, Oregon: 1,931 kits San Diego, California: 2,873 kits In total, over 9,000 more kits. We commend these cities for sharing their data with us. Transparency and yes, accountability, are the first steps toward reform. Survivors deserve the chance for justice. They deserve everything we can give to help them heal. Now that these jurisdictions have shared the number of untested rape kits in storage, we hope they will take the necessary steps to test these kits, investigate and prosecute these cases, engage survivors with care and compassion, and ensure the backlog never reoccurs. The fact remains that there is more about the rape kit backlog that we don’t know than we do know. There is no comprehensive, national data on the nature and scope of the rape kit backlog. Few state governments and no federal agencies track this data. Across cities and counties, there are […]
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