PA receives $2.5M to establish statewide sexual assault kit tracking system
Davis, who serves as chair of PCCD, added, "As leaders, we need to do everything we can to help victims feel safe and whole again. If a victim is able to summon the strength to go through the process of getting a sexual assault examination and file a police report, they deserve to know their rape kit is being handled with care and attention, that their case is a priority."
Davis joined a bipartisan group of legislators and advocates to announce a new $2.5 million federal award from the U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) awarded to the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency (PCCD) to improve the Commonwealth's ability to support survivors of sexual violence and increase accountability and transparency through a new statewide sexual assault kit tracking system.
"Here in Pennsylvania, we're reducing the backlog of processing rape kits, but there's much more work to be done," Davis said. "Now that we've passed Senate Bill 920, Gov. Shapiro has signed it into law and with this federal funding, we can create a statewide tracking system that keeps victims informed and helps them get their power back."
The federal award announced on Monday furthers recent legislation — Senate Bill 920 — sponsored by Sen. Wayne Langerholc, Jr., and signed into law by Gov. Josh Shapiro in October 2024 as Act 122 of 2024.
"Act 122 reinforces the Commonwealth's dedication to supporting survivors and ensuring offenders are held accountable," Langerholc said. "This rape kit tracking system will allow sexual assault survivors to track the progress of their kits throughout an investigation. The $2.5 million federal grant from the Sexual Assault Kit Initiative will help launch the system sooner, ensuring faster access for survivors."
The new law requires the establishment of an electronic statewide sexual assault evidence tracking system, enabling survivors to monitor the status of their rape kits throughout the testing process. The bill also enhances the rights of sexual assault victims and mandates reporting by the Pennsylvania State Police.
"The implementation of this statewide tracking system for sexual assault kits underscores our commitment to enhancing public service and fostering transparency," said PA State Police Commissioner Colonel Christopher Paris. "Every victim of crime deserves respect, dignity, and the assurance that their case will be handled with professionalism and compassion, with a steadfast pursuit of justice."
For survivors who choose to report an incident of sexual assault to police, preserving DNA and other evidence is crucial to investigate and prosecute those responsible. Sexual assault forensic exams, or "rape kits," performed by specially trained staff at hospitals and health facilities are vital tools in the fight to increase transparency, improve public safety, and ensure that survivors of sexual assault are supported, given a voice, and achieve justice.
Sexual assault kit testing can be a lengthy process, often leading to significant backlogs in crime labs. Automated sexual assault kit tracking systems allow survivors to know where their sexual assault kit is throughout the testing process and prompt efficient processing to prevent backlogs and delays, which in turn can speed up the criminal justice process and prevent future assaults.
"If we can track Amazon packages, airline flights, and Starlink satellites, there should be no issue with ensuring survivors can access and track the status of their sexual assault evidence kits and give them control in their fight for justice," Sen. Katie Muth said. "Today's announcement of federal grant funding to finally establish a statewide rape kit tracking system in Pennsylvania is a sign of progress and a sign that the voices of survivors and their advocates are being heard in Harrisburg. I appreciate the continued work of PCCD and PCAR to fight for survivors and to advocate for programs and funding that can make a difference in the lives of Pennsylvanians."
With this new federal funding, PCCD, along with its partners at the Pennsylvania State Police and Pennsylvania Department of Health, will take a multi-phased approach to reduce the number of unsubmitted and partially tested sexual assault kits in the Commonwealth. Funds will be used to establish a new statewide tracking system as well as training and technical assistance support provided to rape crisis programs, hospitals, law enforcement, and other key stakeholders through a sub-award to PCAR.
In addition, a portion of grant funds will help establish a state-level multidisciplinary team led by PCCD and comprised of key stakeholders, building on PA's existing collaborative efforts related to sexual assault evidence collection and other system-wide reforms.
Reach Bill O'Boyle at 570-991-6118 or on Twitter @TLBillOBoyle.
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One of those sending the emails was a senior counsel in the criminal division. The emails referred to Trump's March executive order on elections, part of which directs the attorney general to enter information-sharing agreements with state election officials to the 'maximum extent possible." Election officials in several states that received requests for their voter registration information have not responded. Some said they were reviewing the inquiries. Officials in some other states provided public versions of voter registration lists to the department, with certain personal information such as Social Security numbers blacked out. Elsewhere, state officials answered procedural questions from the Justice Department but refused to provide the voter lists. In Minnesota, the office of Secretary of State Steve Simon, a Democrat, said the federal agency is not legally entitled to the information. In a July 25 letter to the Justice Department's voting section, Simon's general counsel, Justin Erickson, said the list 'contains sensitive personal identifying information on several million individuals.' He said the office had obligations under federal and state law to not disclose any information from the statewide list unless expressly required by law. In a recent letter, Republican lawmakers in the state called on Simon to comply with the federal request as a way "to protect the voting rights of the citizens of Minnesota.' Maine's secretary of state, Democrat Shenna Bellows, said the administration's request overstepped the federal government's bounds and that the state will not fulfill it. She said doing so would violate voter privacy. The department 'doesn't get to know everything about you just because they want to,' Bellows said. There is nothing inherently wrong with the Justice Department requesting information on state procedures or the states providing it, said Justin Levitt, a former deputy assistant attorney general who teaches at Loyola Law School. But the department's requests for voter registration data are more problematic, he said. That is because of the Privacy Act of 1974, which put strict guidelines on data collection by the federal government. The government is required to issue a notice in the Federal Register and notify appropriate congressional committees when it seeks personally identifiable information about individuals. Becker said there is nothing in federal law that compels states to comply with requests for sensitive personal data about their residents. He added that while the outreach about information-sharing agreements was largely innocuous, the involvement of a criminal attorney could be seen as intimidating. 'You can understand how people would be concerned,' he said.
