A5031

An Act requiring an audit of untested sexual assault examination kits and supplementing chapter 17B of Title 52 of the Revised Statutes.

Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:

1. The Legislature finds and declares that:

a. The successful prosecution of sexual offenses and serial sexual offenders is vital to public safety;

b. The United States Department of Justice estimates that there are approximately 100,000 backlogged sexual assault examination kits awaiting testing throughout the country; and

c. Preventing a backlog of untested sexual assault examination kits is essential to the administration of justice in this State.

2. The Attorney General shall conduct an audit of the sexual assault examination kits collected by law enforcement agencies in this State that have not been submitted to a laboratory approved by the Attorney General for serology or deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) testing and report the findings of the audit.

a. For the purposes of conducting the audit and reporting the findings, within 30 days of the effective date of this act, the Attorney General shall distribute to every law enforcement agency responsible for the collection, storage, and maintenance of sexual assault examination kits a survey prescribed by the Attorney General, which shall include, but not be limited to, questions concerning:

(1) agency policies and procedures that list specific criteria for submitting sexual assault examination kits to an approved forensic laboratory for testing;

(2) agency policies and procedures that specify timelines within which the agency should send sexual assault evidence kits to an approved forensic laboratory for testing;

(3) agency policies and procedures for notifying victims when a sexual assault examination kit is submitted to an approved forensic laboratory, and if a kit is not submitted to an approved forensic laboratory;

(4) agency policies and procedures for logging, tracking, and storing sexual assault examination kits;

(5) whether the agency requires investigators to document reasons why certain sexual assault examination kits are not submitted to an approved forensic laboratory;

(6) the total number of sexual assault examination kits the agency currently possesses, and how many of these kits likely are to be submitted to an approved forensic laboratory;

(7) the number of sexual assault examination kits the agency possesses that were received in the last 12 months;

(8) the number of sexual assault examination kits the agency possesses that were received more than 12 months ago;

(9) the number of sexual assault examination kits the agency possesses that were received prior to the year 2000;

(10) the number of sexual assault examination kits the agency submitted to an approved forensic laboratory since January 1 of the current calendar year; and

(11) the approximate length of time it takes to receive results from an approved forensic laboratory: 0-4 weeks; 1-2 months; 3-5 months; 6-9 months; 10-12 months; or more than 12 months.

b. Within 30 days of receipt of the survey required by subsection a. of this section, each law enforcement agency shall submit a completed survey to the Attorney General.

c. Within 30 days of the date on which the surveys are required to be submitted to the Attorney General by law enforcement agencies pursuant to subsection b. of this section, the Attorney General shall summarize the information contained in the surveys and, pursuant to section 2 of P.L.1991, c.164 (C.52:14-19.1), report to the Legislature the findings of the audit of untested sexual assault examination kits in this State.

d. A report issued pursuant to subsection c. of this section shall not contain any personal or identifying information about any victim.

3. This act shall take effect on the first day of the fourth month next following enactment, except that the Attorney General may take such anticipatory administrative action in advance as shall be necessary for the implementation of the act.

STATEMENT

This bill requires the Attorney General to conduct an audit of untested sexual assault examination kits in this State and report the findings of the audit.

Under the provisions of the bill, the Attorney General is required to conduct an audit of the sexual assault examination kits collected by law enforcement agencies in this State that have not been submitted to a laboratory approved by the Attorney General for serology or deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) testing and report to the Legislature the findings of this audit.

The bill requires the Attorney General, within 30 days of the bill’s effective date, to prescribe and distribute a survey to law enforcement agencies responsible for the collection, storage, and maintenance of sexual assault examination kits. The Attorney General is to include inquiries concerning the following in the survey:

(1) agency policies and procedures that list specific criteria for submitting sexual assault examination kits to an approved forensic laboratory for testing;

(2) agency policies and procedures that specify timelines within which the agency should send sexual assault examination kits to an approved forensic laboratory for testing;

(3) agency policies and procedures for notifying victims when a sexual assault examination kit is submitted to an approved forensic laboratory, and if a kit is not submitted to the approved forensic laboratory;

(4) agency policies and procedures for logging, tracking, and storing sexual assault examination kits;

(5) whether the agency requires investigators to document reasons why certain sexual assault examination kits are not submitted to an approved forensic laboratory;

(6) the number of sexual assault examination kits the agency currently possesses in total, and how many of these sexual assault examination kits are likely to be submitted to an approved forensic laboratory;

(7) the number of sexual assault examination kits the agency possesses that were received in the last 12 months;

(8) the number of sexual assault examination kits the agency possesses that were received more than 12 months ago;

(9) the number of sexual assault examination kits the agency possesses that were received prior to the year 2000;

(10) the number of sexual assault examination kits the agency submitted to an approved forensic laboratory since January 1 of the current calendar year; and

(11) the approximate length of time it takes to receive results from an approved forensic laboratory: 0-4 weeks; 1-2 months; 3-5 months; 6-9 months; 10-12 months; or more than 12 months.

The bill requires law enforcement agencies to complete the survey within 30 days. The Attorney General then has 30 days to summarize the information contained in the surveys and report to the Legislature the findings of the audit of untested sexual assault examination kits in this State. The report is not to contain any personal or identifying information about any victim.