The thousands of untested rape kits that have been sitting on evidence shelves for years in Washington State will soon be a thing of the past. Ten thousand untested rape kits, have gathered dust on evidence shelves for years, and in some cases decades. They were discovered in 2014 but progress was slow, MyNorthWest reports.
For years a team made up of a handful of lawmakers, law enforcement, and sexual assault survivors worked tirelessly to change that, and this year that work finally paid off, as the legislature made clearing the rape kit backlog a priority, getting a bill to the governor’s desk.“Today I was honored to sign HB 1166, which is an important next step in our efforts to end the backlog of untested rape kits and ensure better support of sexual assault survivors,” Gov. Inslee said on Twitter.