Murphy signs bill requiring tracking for rape kits
It also calls for creation of an Online database
By: Katie Sobko
NorthJersey.com
USA Today Network - New Jersey
..... Governor Phil Murphy signed into law Thursday [01/23/2025] a bill that will require the state Attorney General's Office to establish an Internet-based rape kit tracking system.
.....
It also has to create an Online database that would allow a person - whether a victim, a law enforcement officer, an employee of a health care facility or laboratory, or anyone else deemed appropriate by the attorney general - to track a sexual assault forensic evidence kit through the chain of custody from the time of collection through the transfer to a local law enforcement agency, submission to a laboratory and final disposition.
..... Murphy said in a statement that "survivors of sexual assault who show strength and resilience in coming forward deserve recognition and support."
..... "This well-overdue bill cements into law the work our administration has undertaken to support survivors," he said. "survivors will have access to a dedicated tracking system to stay informed through every step of their pursuit of justice."
..... According to state data form 2022, the most recent available, there were 1,536 reported rapes and 251 arrests in New Jersey that year.
..... State Sean tor Renee Burgess, D-Essex, who sponsored the bill in the upper chamber, said in a statement that the law is a "critical step forward in ensuring justice and support for survivor of sexual violence.
..... "When it comes to a rape or sexual assault, the gathering and preservation of physical evidence is of paramount importance to improving New Jersey's response to restore trust in our criminal justice system," she said.
..... Her counterpart in the lower chamber, Assemblywoman Verlina Reynolds-Jackson, D-Mercer, said that "establishing a tracking system for sexual assault forensic evidence kits is of the utmost importance, ensuring a level of transparency and healing exist within our communities.
..... Last august, [2024] Attorney General Matt Platkin issued a new mandate requiring all kits submitted to law enforcement to be tested. The state received $2 million in competitive federal funding in 2023 to establish an advanced tracking system for the kits.
..... Platkin also extended the required retention period for evidence, including DNA evidence, from sexual assault medical examinations from five years to 20 years and established statewide procedures and guidelines for tracking and storing such evidence and determining how and when it is submitted for testing.