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Attorney General Announces Online Program For Sexual Assault Survivors To Track Rape Kits

Sen. Stephanie Kunze (R-Hilliard), Rosa Beltre of the Ohio Alliance to End Sexual Violence, Attorney General Mike DeWine (R) and laboratory supervisor Kristen Slaper with the Bureau of Criminal Investigation announce the rape kit tracking program.
Karen Kasler
Sen. Stephanie Kunze (R-Hilliard), Rosa Beltre of the Ohio Alliance to End Sexual Violence, Attorney General Mike DeWine (R) and laboratory supervisor Kristen Slaper with the Bureau of Criminal Investigation announce the rape kit tracking program.

Victims of sexual assault may soon have a new way to find out the status and location of a key piece of evidence in their cases instantly and anonymously.

Attorney General Mike DeWine says a free online program would allow sexual assault survivors to enter the barcode on their rape kits to follow them from medical facilities where they’re collected to crime labs where they’re tested to law enforcement for storage or destruction. “Rape survivors have already gone through unimaginable trauma, and not knowing where their cases stand can also be agonizing.”

The online tracking program would take around a million dollars in money from the victims of crime fund to launch, but will also need legislation to require all agencies to participate. That’s being sponsored by two Republican women state lawmakers, Sen. Stephanie Kunze and Rep. Dorothy Pelanda.

Copyright 2018 The Statehouse News Bureau

Contact Karen at 614/578-6375 or at kkasler@statehousenews.org.