In Portland, Oregon, more than 5,000 untested rape kits were discovered in evidence storage lockers in 2015. Three years later, the backlog in testing those kits was down to almost zero and five suspects had been convicted.
Tennessee law enforcement officials are now looking to the Portland model to provide justice and accountability for sexual assault survivors.
The Jim Coley Protection for Rape Survivors act passed with rare bipartisan support by the Tennessee Legislature in May. While the law went into effect July 1, its key provision -implementing an electronic tracking system for sexual assault kits that is accessible to victims and law enforcement – may take a year to be up and running.
New software developed by the Portland Police Bureau will allow Tennessee law enforcement, prosecutors and victims to monitor the status of rape kits – a packet containing evidence taken from victims’ bodies, clothing and crimes scenes to extract DNA and other evidence to help identify perpetrators and document injuries.
Victims will be able to enter an identification number to track the status of their kits – whether they decide to talk to law enforcement or not – at every step of the process of collecting evidence, testing DNA for matches, and uploading it into a national crime database.