AG: Funds secured to help end rape kit backlog

FRANKFORT, Ky. (WTVQ) – Attorney General Andy Beshear today announced $4.5 million in funding to help end Kentucky’s rape kit backlog.

Leading advocates for ending the backlog and seeking justice for victims, Eileen Recktenwald, executive director of the Kentucky Association of Sexual Assault Programs, and survivor of sexual assault, Michelle Kuiper, joined Beshear to make the announcement.

Kuiper said she was honored to initiate the $4.5 million transfer from the Office of the Attorney General to the Kentucky State Police (KSP), where the funds will ensure that all kits are tested in a timely fashion.

The backlog was discovered in 2015, when Kentucky’s state auditor uncovered more than 3,000 sexual assault forensic exam kits (SAFE kits) languishing in police departments and in the KSP crime lab. Some of the reasons provided for the backlog were lack of funding and shortage of staff at the KSP crime lab.

Some funding was established when KSP applied for and received nearly $2 million from a grant from the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office. Yet, additional resources and reforms were needed in order to fully address the issue.

During the 2016 legislative session, Beshear asked the General Assembly to approve $4.5 million in settlement funds from a lawsuit against the Risperdal drugmaker Johnson & Johnson, to be used for testing of SAFE kits. Over the next two fiscal years, an additional $1 million from the settlement will also go to aid law enforcement and prosecutors in the investigation and prosecution of sexual assault cases.