Bipartisan legislation cosponsored by U.S. Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC) to reauthorize grants that support state and local efforts to more quickly process DNA evidence in rape kits became law last month as part of a larger bill.
“In North Carolina alone, there are 15,000 untested rape kits,” Sen. Tillis said on Dec. 18. “Victims of this heinous crime deserve justice and we should be doing everything we can to put the perpetrators behind bars.”
The Debbie Smith Act of 2019, S. 820, which Sen. Tillis introduced as an original cosponsor in March 2019 with bill sponsor U.S. Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) and cosponsors including U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), on Dec. 30 was signed into law by U.S. President Donald Trump as part of the Debbie Smith Reauthorization Act of 2019, H.R. 777.
The larger measure reauthorizes through fiscal year 2024 grants under the Debbie Smith DNA Backlog Grant Program; grants to provide DNA training and education for law enforcement personnel, corrections personnel, and court officers; and grants under the Sexual Assault Forensic Exam Program, according to the congressional record summary.
The Debbie Smith Act was originally signed into law in 2004 to provide local and state crime laboratories resources to end the backlog of untested DNA evidence from unsolved crimes, analyze DNA samples, and increase the capacity to process DNA in order to guard against future backlogs, according to a statement provided by Sen. Tillis’ office.
Since the law’s enactment, more than 641,000 DNA cases have been processed, according to the statement.