DNA evidence has become a significant aspect of obtaining justice for sexual assault victims. There are still obstacles in how sexual assault evidence is collected, stored, pursued, and how offenders are held responsible for their actions. Moreover, the tremendous accumulation of DNA evidence is one of the main challenges in prosecuting sexual violence culprits. Therefore, the justice department has inducted a Sexual Assault Kit Initiative (SAKI) to assist states and cities countrywide to obtain sexual assault kits to support and maximize the use of DNA evidence to bring justice to sexual assault survivors. SAKI offers funding through a competitive grant project to help the jurisdictional reform on how to handle increasingly sexual assault cases concerning DNA from a rape kit or sexual assault kits in a crime laboratory. This paper aims to examine the SAKI by exploring the initiative aim, positive attributes, and the obstacles that exist to affect the program adversely. The main goal of the SAKI program is to tackle the increasing number of unsubmitted SAK in authorities custody. SAKI also aims at helping in providing resolution for the victims of sexual assault when feasible. There is a comprehensive agreement that case of sexual assault cases concerning DNA must be approached and handled through a comprehensive approach to the problem Bettinger-lopez, C. (2020) . Therefore, SAKI grant funding utilizes inventory of the current number of unsubmitted SAKs, tests the kits, assigns qualified individuals to lead the new investigation, and prosecutes and supports the survivors throughout the investigations and trial processes. SAKI grant is applied to create evidence-tracking programs and offer training programs on law enforcement on sexual violence investigations. Perform investigations on the results in sexual violence cases and improve the assortment of perpetrator DNA for full compliance with the jurisdiction laws, which might result in the identification of severe and serial sexual perpetrators. The Sexual Assault Kit Initiative has had positive attributes to the justice system in cases involving sexual assault. First, the SAKI program has led to the test of unsubmitted SAK, which pursue new leads and prosecution. Besides, through grants from the Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA), SAKI has support victims during investigations and prosecution ( SAKI, 2020 ) . Therefore, these grants are spent to expound proof tracing techniques, educate law enforcers, and manage studies on the results in sexual offense instances. More so, these grants have increased the perpetrator’s DNA collection to be uploaded into the FBI's Joint DNA Index System (CODIS), which identifies serious and serial sex offenders. Besides, SAKI has improved the comprehension of the level and nature of sexual assault (Bettinger-Lopez, 2020). Furthermore, SAKI has attributed to establishing protocols that address the root cause of kits remaining shelved and unsubmitted. Numerous barriers negatively affect the SAKI program. First, there are no written protocols for submitting sexual assault kits to the laboratories for testing, which could dictate the time for submission or even the tests to be carried out. Besides, budget cuts led to a decline in law enforcement and crime lab personnel; therefore, fewer lab practitioners conducted the tests. Furthermore, victim-blaming beliefs and police behaviors in that victims' credibility are discounted, and their effect is misinterpreted, with police officers conducting fewer investigations and even discouraging prosecution openly. Also, high turnover in police leadership negatively affects the program since new leaders come up with different ideas to solve the problem, and this may result in zero or minimal progress in the process of reducing unsubmitted SAK (Bettinger-Lopez, 2020). Testing sexual assault kits is an investigative process that may not always lead to a new investigative pointer since the defendant might be anonymous, or the data in the kit may not have any or sufficient biological evidence to grant a DNA profile.
The Sexual Assault Kit Initiative evaluates its progress mostly through the sexual assault kits that have been tested. The new leads provided, plus the prosecutions that have taken place after these tests, can evaluate SAKI's progress. For instance, as of June 2020, 130,719 kits were inventoried with 71,491 kits tested, where 11,021 were identified using the Combined DNA Index System (CODIS). 5,603 kits were identified as serial violent, while 1,500 kits were identified as serial sex offenders. The FBI lab's interagency agreement helped the program enhance the tests' efficiency and useful DNA analysis. In conclusion, the Sexual Assault Kit Initiative has had a positive impact on sexual assault cases. The program has provided a solution to the challenge of increased unsubmitted sexual assault kits, with most kits being tested. Besides, by promoting training and tracking evidence, SAKI has assisted jurisdiction in establishing effective data collection methods and managing criminal proof, investigation, prosecution of sexual assault cases, and reinforcing sexual offense victims. Furthermore, SAKI has enhanced criminal justice regarding sexual assault and ensured justice for victims.
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References
Bettinger-lopez, C. (2020). The Sexual Assault Kit Initiative: An Important Step Toward Ending the Rape Kit Backlog. https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/blog/2016/03/15/sexual-assault-kit-initiative-important-step-toward-ending-rape-kit-backlog
Sexual Assault Kit Initiative (SAKI) | Overview | BJA. (2020). https://bja.ojp.gov/program/sexual-assault-kit-initiative-saki/overview
