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An Inside Look at our February ENDTHEBACKLOG Newsletter
Did you know that every month, Joyful Heart publishes a newsletter on the latest news and progress around the rape kit backlog? We do!If you're an ENDTHEBACKLOG subscriber, you can be the first to get...
View ArticleNo urgency in testing rape kits amounts to no respect for victims
January 5, 2016Miami HeraldFabiola SantiagoWhere’s the urgency, the respect for rape victims?On Tuesday afternoon, a day after the Florida Department of Law Enforcement released a report revealing the...
View ArticleNew Mexico Audit Finds 5,411 Untested Rape Kits
January 7, 2016Public News ServiceSANTA FE, N.M. – Victims' rights advocates are hoping New Mexico officials take steps during the upcoming legislative session to deal with the state's backlog of...
View ArticleIt’s Not a Backlog, It’s a Lack of Concern for Rape Victims
January 15, 2016CounterpunchLauren FinleyAccording to the Rape, Abuse, and Incest National Network (RAINN), an American is sexually assaulted every 107 seconds. “Rape kit” is the term used to describe...
View ArticleWhy an Ohio Supreme Court case involving rape kits is drawing national attention
February 17, 2016Cleveland.comRachel DisselCLEVELAND, Ohio – A Cleveland rape case in the hands of the Ohio Supreme Court could result in tougher standards for prosecuting cases reopened after tests on...
View ArticleWhy One Ohio Court Case Could Be Detrimental for Rape Victims Everywhere
February 8, 2016Broadly.Lindsay SchruppAfter she was allegedly raped at knifepoint on September 1, 1993, a 23-year-old Ohio woman, "S.W.", did all the things sexual assault victims are supposed to do....
View ArticleFaced With Staggering Backlogs of Rape Kits, States Change Testing,...
February 17, 2016The Pew Charitable TrustsRebecca BeitschSeeking to secure justice for thousands of rape victims, about 20 states are moving to test a backlog of unexamined rape kits found in storage...
View ArticleOhio tests 10,000 rape kits to clear backlogs, hundreds indicted
February 18, 2016ReutersKim PalmerAn effort Ohio launched about five years ago to manage its backlog of rape kits has resulted in more than 10,000 tests to recover physical evidence and led to at least...
View ArticleVictims' Group: SD Rape Kit Testing Law a Mixed Bag
April 20, 2016Public News ServiceBrandon CampbellPIERRE, S.D. - South Dakota's new rape kit testing law is now in effect, but a sexual assault victims' group argues it may not go far enough to tackle...
View ArticleKey legislators approve amended version of bill to test rape kits
April 30, 2016Honolulu Star AdvertiserSophie CockeHawaii’s police departments will likely be required to take action on hundreds of rape kits that have sat in storage facilities for years, as well as...
View ArticleJoe Biden Honored by Mariska Hargitay’s Joyful Heart Foundation for Efforts...
may 12, 2016Us WeeklyAnna ChanThe VP received the inaugural Finnegan Award — which was named after his grandfather — for his commitment to ending domestic violence. Mariska Hargitay, who is the...
View ArticleAdvocates praise senate bill on sexual assault victims’ rights
may 24, 2016The New York TimesEmmarie HuettemanWASHINGTON — Advocates for victims of sexual assault on Tuesday praised the Senate’s unanimous approval of a bill that would establish a set of rights for...
View ArticleJoyful Heart Foundation brings awareness to domestic violence and sexual abuse
June 5, 2016Hawaii News NowHNN StaffThe Joyful Heart Foundation launched its “Hawaii Says NO MORE” campaign two years ago, which aims to create awareness, encourage conversation and end the social...
View ArticleTempe sending around 500 sexual-assault kits, some dating to the early '90s,...
June 8, 2016AZ CentralChris CoppolaRoughly 500 sexual-assault test kits from Tempe investigations dating back to 1993 are headed to a lab for DNA analysis because they never were submitted or need to...
View ArticleInside the national effort to combat the rape kit backlog – and how Detroit...
June 9, 2016PeopleDiana PearlAfter Natasha Alexenko was raped and robbed at gunpoint in New York City in 1993, her first instinct was to try to wash the experience off her."It was an ordeal that...
View ArticleJoe Biden: We need to stop this culture of rape jokes and 'locker room banter'
June 14, 2016MSNRachel ReveszThe phrase “rule of thumb” comes from the 1300s, when courts ruled that men could no longer beat their wives with a rod of a larger circumference than their thumb.It was a...
View ArticleMariska Hargitay of ‘Law & Order: SVU’ talks untested rape kit backlog
June 22, 2016Hidden RemoteAnne GoetzOlivia Benson, the character she’s portrayed on Law and Order: SVU for 17 years and 389 episodes, is a no-nonsense police lieutenant with a soft spot for victimized...
View ArticleRestoring joy to abuse victims
June 2016Hawaii BusinessJackie M. YoungWhen actress Mariska Hargitay started playing a sexual-assault detective on TV in “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit” in 1999, she began to get mail full of...
View ArticleOhio Supreme Court reverses decision in Cleveland rape kit case that drew...
July 27, 2016Cleveland.comRachel DissellCLEVELAND, Ohio –The Ohio Supreme Court today unanimously reversed the decision of a Cleveland appeals court in a rape kit case being watched across the...
View ArticleA disturbing trend: evidence in rape cases often goes untested
August 2016Seattle MagElaine PorterfieldThe night she was at a Seattle bar and left her seat to visit the restroom, Leah didn’t expect the man sitting next to her would spike her drink while she was...
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