Political Quotes

“Mr. President, for nearly 15 years, the Debbie Smith Act has been the driving force behind our progress to eliminate the Nation's rape kit backlog. Though exact numbers are difficult to estimate, experts believe there are hundreds of thousands of untested rape kits in the United States. Each one of them, of course, represents a different story--the story of a sexual assault victim. Also, as a result of DNA science, it holds the key to apprehending a violent criminal and stopping them from committing further assaults. Since the Debbie Smith Act was signed into law in 2004, more than $1 billion has been invested in State and local crime labs for DNA testing. This program also supports training for law enforcement, correctional personnel, forensic nurses, and other professionals who work with victims of sexual assault. Though the primary goal of the program is to reduce the rape kit backlog and identify attackers, processing this DNA evidence can assist investigations into other nonviolent crimes as well. Once evidence is tested, it is uploaded into the FBI's DNA database, called CODIS. This is similar to the criminal fingerprint database but provides DNA evidence that can help identify and convict people who commit other crimes. So if it is collected as a result of a sexual assault, you may, in fact, be able to get a hit that will help you identify someone who has committed a burglary, a murder, a robbery, or some other crime.…”