well some lawmakers are getting behind recent reforms from the Attorney General's office aimed at speeding up investigations into sexual assault they want to codify into state law new requirements mandating the testing of all so-called rape kits that's the forensic data law enforcement collects from assault victims during an investigation the legislation will also accelerate how quickly the material is tested and as Raven Santana reports clear a large backlog of thousands of untested kids I had the privilege of being an undersheriff and a sheriff um I saw firsthand um victims and in their most vulnerable moments that never leaves you and quite frankly I I just truly believe the system is supposed to work fairly for all former Sheriff Senator Joe cryan Knows firsthand how the evidence tested in raped kids are vital to catching sexual predators or even freeing those wrongly convicted I was astonished that some counties for example state of New Jersey less than 50% of the kits were tested overall and this was left to the discretion of the counties having been a sheriff in Union County I can assure you that at least the practice in Union County was for all to be tested so it was quite alarming that's why he's now pushing a bill to clear the state's rape kit backlog and make sure all collection kits are tested the legislation that was Advanced by the Senate law and Public Safety Committee also requires testing facilities to notify law enforcement within 24 hours of a test being taken a measure that is supported by attorney general Matt platkin who over the summer announced a directive requiring all kits be tested regardless of how old what the bill does is it provides a process so that those those kits are done before December of 2025 in a methodical fashion and candidly it follows the AG the Attorney General's directive that he issued in August um kicking and screaming a little bit but he did Issue it so as a result of that it it codifies that also provides a timeline so that things are kits are tested within 10 calendar days moving forward so that victims have some Assurance again that the process is being followed in a timely manner then those those results are distributed or DNA results um other states by the way that have done this for years have had the opportunity to find in one one particular State's case I believe it's 13,000 criminals over the course of four years folks that have done these crimes mult times through this process ending the rap kit backlog that has been our main campaign since 2010 we actually don't know what New Jersey's backlog looks like because the inventory only looked at what was on shelves during a couple of years it was only a three-year look and even that was over 2,000 ilsa connect is the director of policy and advocacy at joyful Heart Foundation a nonprofit that supports survivors of domestic violence child abuse and sexual assault with a number of resources while also pushing reform forms and legislation to ensure Justice for them joyful Hart issued a 10year report on the state of the backlog nationally a couple of years ago and what we found is really good news which is that the backlog is diminishing at one point there were anywhere from 300 to 400,000 untested kits across the country right and now we're under 100,000 by some counts we might be under 60,000 we're really excited about New Jersey getting on board now and and starting to adopt are six pillars connect says ultimately the legislation would allow science not discretion to help solve crimes again all these things and beliefs and ideas and biases and victim blaming that people bring to this decision um it's just not a good idea to have one person making a decision like that so taking the discretion away you know makes sense then because you have DNA which is science it's you know you test it you get a profile it might hit to somebody on the database that is science right that does not there's no bias there cryan says the Attorney General is already on board and he's confident that the bill will pass for NJ Spotlight news I'm Raven Santana [Music]