Amidst a national push for rape kit reform, Maine remains last in the nation to implement best practices. State lawmakers passed and funded a bill to create a tracking system and do an inventory of untested kits, but it was pushed through after the end of the regular session, and Gov. Janet Mills rejected it along with 34 other last-minute bills."In my opinion the bills that were passed, if they were allowed to become law would have been subjected to serious legal question," said Mills during a press conference the following day. Rape kits are a relatively new topic in Maine. Some forensic nurses and advocates have been talking about it for years, but it's only started to garner wider attention in the past year or so. "Sex crimes kits hold valuable evidence of the sex crime, and it is one piece of an overall picture that prosecutors need to hold offenders accountable," said Polly Campbell, who leads the sexual assault forensic nurse examiner program at the University of New England. In order to bring justice for rape victims, reform advocates say states need to do an inventory of untested rape kits, create a tracking system and start testing every kit that's collected. While most states have passed a handful of reforms, Maine is the only one that hasn't passed a single one. Advocates and victims say they want more transparency. Survivors who report their sexual assaults put themselves through hours of painful police interviews and forensic exams because they want to stop their assailants from hurting someone else. "I was ready to run with this case," said Meg Bilodeau, a survivor of sexual assault. "I was ready to press charges. I was ready to help others who had been potentially hurt by this man. And it's just frustrating that he's still out there roaming free after this."After a medical forensic exam, the rape kit is brought to the police department. Sometimes it's sent to the state crime lab for DNA testing and sometimes it's not and victims are usually left in the dark. "The lack of that knowledge is actually harmful to their healing because they don't have answers and survivors want and need information," said Isle Knect, the policy director of Joyful Heart, a national group that advocates for rape kit reform. Knect says a tracking system would add transparency to an opaque system and give victims easy access to real-time updates.Since Maine doesn't require all kits to be tested, most aren't. Only 20-30% of collected kits are sent to the crime lab for testing. That practice may be impacting public safety. In other states, reforms have led to the prosecution of serial offenders. In 2009, the Wayne County Prosecutor's Office in Michigan discovered more than 11,000 untested, unopened sexual assault kits sitting in a Detroit police warehouse, some dated back 35 years. "It is a colossal, colossal miscarriage of justice," said Wayne County prosecutor Kym Worthy. Within 10 years, every kit was tested. The results have identified 844 suspected serial rapists, so far leading to hundreds of convictions, linking to crimes in 40 states including one case in Maine. "Think of how many cold cases you might be able to solve if you just test your rape kits," Worthy said. It's unclear what would happen if Maine tested the other 70-80% of collected kits, but advocates have some theories. "Not surprised by Detroit's numbers," said Cumberland County district attorney Jacqueline Sartoris. "Absolutely, we would expect to see a comparable percentage of serial sex assaulters in Maine."Since the system lacks oversight, there's no way of knowing how many untested kits are sitting in police evidence rooms. Maine's Total Coverage reached out to every district attorney in the state to ask for backlog estimates. Sartoris has started reaching out to her police chiefs; she estimates that the county has a few hundred untested kits, but she isn't sure. Three district attorneys say they don't have a good faith estimate, and four, say their districts don't have significant backlogs. Worthy thinks that's naive and misguided. "You're fooling yourselves and you're not being honest with either, yourself, your office, or your constituents," said Worthy, when asked what she would say to those district attorneys. Lawmakers plan to reintroduce the tracking and inventory bill next session, this time with testing requirements. In the meantime, a pilot program that passed during the session before last, will roll out in Penobscot and Kennebec, creating a tracking system at the county level and Cumberland plans to apply for a grant to test every untested kit in the county.
WESTBROOK, Maine —
Amidst a national push for rape kit reform, Maine remains last in the nation to implement best practices.
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State lawmakers passed and funded a bill to create a tracking system and do an inventory of untested kits, but it was pushed through after the end of the regular session, and Gov. Janet Mills rejected it along with 34 other last-minute bills.
"In my opinion the bills that were passed, if they were allowed to become law would have been subjected to serious legal question," said Mills during a press conference the following day.
Rape kits are a relatively new topic in Maine. Some forensic nurses and advocates have been talking about it for years, but it's only started to garner wider attention in the past year or so.
"Sex crimes kits hold valuable evidence of the sex crime, and it is one piece of an overall picture that prosecutors need to hold offenders accountable," said Polly Campbell, who leads the sexual assault forensic nurse examiner program at the University of New England.
In order to bring justice for rape victims, reform advocates say states need to do an inventory of untested rape kits, create a tracking system and start testing every kit that's collected. While most states have passed a handful of reforms, Maine is the only one that hasn't passed a single one. Advocates and victims say they want more transparency.
Survivors who report their sexual assaults put themselves through hours of painful police interviews and forensic exams because they want to stop their assailants from hurting someone else.
"I was ready to run with this case," said Meg Bilodeau, a survivor of sexual assault. "I was ready to press charges. I was ready to help others who had been potentially hurt by this man. And it's just frustrating that he's still out there roaming free after this."
After a medical forensic exam, the rape kit is brought to the police department. Sometimes it's sent to the state crime lab for DNA testing and sometimes it's not and victims are usually left in the dark.
"The lack of that knowledge is actually harmful to their healing because they don't have answers and survivors want and need information," said Isle Knect, the policy director of Joyful Heart, a national group that advocates for rape kit reform.
Knect says a tracking system would add transparency to an opaque system and give victims easy access to real-time updates.
Since Maine doesn't require all kits to be tested, most aren't. Only 20-30% of collected kits are sent to the crime lab for testing. That practice may be impacting public safety. In other states, reforms have led to the prosecution of serial offenders.
In 2009, the Wayne County Prosecutor's Office in Michigan discovered more than 11,000 untested, unopened sexual assault kits sitting in a Detroit police warehouse, some dated back 35 years.
"It is a colossal, colossal miscarriage of justice," said Wayne County prosecutor Kym Worthy.
Within 10 years, every kit was tested. The results have identified 844 suspected serial rapists, so far leading to hundreds of convictions, linking to crimes in 40 states including one case in Maine.
"Think of how many cold cases you might be able to solve if you just test your rape kits," Worthy said.
It's unclear what would happen if Maine tested the other 70-80% of collected kits, but advocates have some theories.
"Not surprised by Detroit's numbers," said Cumberland County district attorney Jacqueline Sartoris. "Absolutely, we would expect to see a comparable percentage of serial sex assaulters in Maine."
Since the system lacks oversight, there's no way of knowing how many untested kits are sitting in police evidence rooms. Maine's Total Coverage reached out to every district attorney in the state to ask for backlog estimates.
Sartoris has started reaching out to her police chiefs; she estimates that the county has a few hundred untested kits, but she isn't sure. Three district attorneys say they don't have a good faith estimate, and four, say their districts don't have significant backlogs.
Worthy thinks that's naive and misguided.
"You're fooling yourselves and you're not being honest with either, yourself, your office, or your constituents," said Worthy, when asked what she would say to those district attorneys.
Lawmakers plan to reintroduce the tracking and inventory bill next session, this time with testing requirements. In the meantime, a pilot program that passed during the session before last, will roll out in Penobscot and Kennebec, creating a tracking system at the county level and Cumberland plans to apply for a grant to test every untested kit in the county.
