By ANDREA LANNOM
The Register-Herald
BECKLEY, W.Va. — A national advocacy group praised the signing of a bill that takes aim at reducing the processing time of DNA lab tests, calling it “an important step toward comprehensive rape kit reform.”
Joyful Heart, a national organization with the goal of transforming society’s response to sexual assault, domestic violence and child abuse, praised Senate Bill 36 and lead sponsor Sen. Mike Woelfel, D-Cabell, in a Tuesday news release.
“The rape kit backlog represents a failure of the criminal justice system to protect survivors and hold perpetrators accountable. Joyful Heart stands with the Sexual Assault Forensic Commission and the tireless advocates who have fought for justice in West Virginia,” Ilse Knecht, Joyful Heart’s director of Policy and Advocacy said in the release. “When law enforcement agencies commit to address the untested kits in their custody, communities can begin to take steps to test those kits, hold offenders accountable and bring justice to sexual assault survivors whose cases have languished, often for years — or even decades.”
Read the entire article: http://www.register-herald.com/news/national-group-praises-signing-of-dna-bill/article_b11fab3f-b284-563f-be90-860c988be42a.html
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