Tuesday marked a pivotal moment for sexual assault survivors across the state.
“This is huge. This is a problem that a lot of people and a lot of survivors have been trying to tackle for years,” said Leah Griffin.
Gov. Jay Inslee signed House Bill 1166 into law. It’ll help the state clear the backlog of more than 10,000 untested rape kits.
Griffin’s been fighting for this legislation for four years. She was raped in 2014.
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“It’s horrible because you don’t know what’s going to happen. You could be going to trial, you could be settling, there could be evidence, there could be no evidence and there’s just no way to know until that information comes back,” she said.
State Rep. Tina Orwall of Des Moines sponsored the bill. She toured an evidence room in 2015 and was stunned to see stacks of untested rape kits.
“My heart breaks and I want to say I’m sorry to every survivor that happened to and say, we’re fixing it. We’re going to make sure we’re testing those rapidly and that we really bring people to justice,” said Orwall.
The legislation calls for $13 million in state funding to add new employees and a new high-speed laboratory to the state’s crime lab in Vancouver. Orwall said the work is already paying off.
“We’ve already identified five serial rapists and four were still in the community, so this is about keeping our community safe and it’s one of the most important things we can do,” she said.
Suspects include Robert Childs, who’s accused of raping a 12-year-old girl in 2006. The DNA wasn’t tested until late last year because of the backlog.
“We don’t ever want to have more than 45 days go by without someone knowing that we tested their kit and we’re looking for the perpetrator,” said Orwall.
The legislation ensures rape kits are tested within 45 days by 2022.
Other states, including Oregon and Ohio, have had success clearing their untested rape kit backlogs by taking a similar approach.
Cox Media Group
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