To the Editor:
Re “No Longer Ignored, Evidence Solves Rape Cases Years Later” (front page, Aug. 3) points out the challenge of processing the backlog of DNA samples. Congress took an important step toward addressing this issue when in 2004 it passed the Debbie Smith Act, legislation I sponsored and named after a woman who waited more than six years for her rape kit to be tested.
This law authorizes hundreds of millions of dollars in federal grants that have been successfully used to reduce backlogs. Last year, the reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act included a new provision I co-sponsored with Representative Ted Poe, a Texas Republican, the Safer Act, to update this program by mandating that more funding be applied directly to testing evidence and by requiring public disclosure of backlogs.
Each untested kit represents a life interrupted, but it also represents the potential to prevent additional rapes because it holds the evidence that can put a repeat offender behind bars.
Earlier this year, the House voted to reauthorize the Debbie Smith Act, and the Senate is working to reauthorize the broader Justice for All Act, but neither bill has made it to the president’s desk. As the article points out, more needs to be done. We can start by moving forward this important legislation.
CAROLYN B. MALONEY
Washington, Aug. 8, 2014
The writer, a Democrat, represents New York’s 12th District in the House.