When Mariska Hargitay began her career as Olivia Benson in “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit,” her eyes were opened to the pressing realities of sexual assault, domestic violence, and child abuse in the United States.
It inspired her to start the Joyful Heart Foundation in 2004, dedicated to “transforming society’s response to sexual assault, domestic violence, and child abuse by building a world that prioritizes survivors’ healing,” according to the nonprofit’s website.
One of the biggest projects of the nonprofit was its End the Backlog campaign, which sought to end the backlog of rape kits in states across the country. And just last week, Hargitay announced that the organization has achieved “legislative wins” in all 50 states, as well as Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico.
Rape kits consist of the evidence collected by a professional after the examination of someone who has survived sexual assault. This evidence from survivors is collected and booked by law enforcement agencies, but two things often stand in the way of them moving through the legal system.
First is when a detective or prosecutor does not request DNA analysis, and the kits are put into storage, where they may remain in police evidence or storage facilities indefinitely.
Secondly, sometimes these kits are collected and sent to crime labs, but languish in a queue, as they wait to be analyzed for months, years, or even indefinitely. Hargitay’s foundation defines a kit as “backlogged” if it hasn’t been tested within 30 days of receipt from a lab.
There have been improvements in these backlogs over the years, but the Joyful Heart Foundation estimates that there are still 100,000 untested rape kits yet to be discovered across the country.
“To me, the backlog is one of the clearest and most shocking demonstrations of how we regard these crimes in our society,” Hargitay said in a statement for the organization.
“Testing rape kits sends a fundamental and crucial message to victims of sexual violence: You matter. What happened to you matters. Your case matters. For that reason, the Joyful Heart Foundation, which I founded in 2004, has made ending the rape kit backlog our #1 advocacy priority.”
And finally, that prioritization has paid off.
After 16 years of advocating across the country to end the backlog, Hargitay announced that Maine became the final state to have enacted at least one pillar of rape kit reform, as outlined by the Joyful Heart Foundation.
“Today marks a watershed moment not only for the State of Maine, but for every survivor who has asked if their rape kit was forgotten, if their truth was abandoned on a shelf, if they have hope of finding justice,” Hargitay said in a statement.
“After 16 years of relentless, survivor-driven advocacy, the End the Backlog campaign has achieved a milestone: With the passage of unprecedented legislation in Maine, all 50 states, Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico now have some form of rape kit reform in place.”
The End the Backlog campaign outlined six pillars of reform for states to put in place:
- Enact an annual statewide inventory of backlogged kits
- Create a system of mandatory testing of all backlogged kits
- Create a system of mandatory testing of all new kits
- Develop a statewide tracking system for victims, law enforcement, and lab staff to follow the path of a kit through its entire journey
- Grant victims the right to receive information about the status and location of their kit
- Allocate appropriate state funding to implement these reforms
As of May 1, all 50 states have now implemented at least one of these pillars.
“This moment is a promise that the system can and will be transformed into a source of light, not darkness,” Hargitay told The Hollywood Reporter.
“To the survivors who have carried this cause in their hearts: this milestone belongs to you. We are far from done, but how glorious to take this moment to honor how far we have come together.”
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Header image by Peter Kramer/NBC
