DCFNE Featured in Washington City Paper: "A New Bill Would Close an Existing Gap in Sexual Assault Survivors’ Rights"

An excerpt from the article, originally published on July 13, 2023, can be viewed below:

Although sexual assault cases have notoriously low prosecution rates, rape kits can play a major factor in whether a perpetrator is held accountable or if a case goes to trial. Specially trained nurses, known as sexual assault nurse examiners, perform the forensic exam, which makes up a large part of a rape kit, documenting any physical evidence of violence and collecting DNA samples. For adult survivors in the District, those exams are done exclusively by DC Forensic Nurse Examiners; the organization partnered with Allen to draft the Ensuring Safe Forensic Evidence Handling for Sexual Assault Survivors bill.

DCFNE currently holds on to the majority of the city’s non-report kits. According to the organization’s executive director, Erin Pollitt, each year DCFNE provides “medical forensic care to approximately 150 sexual assault survivors who do not consent to law enforcement involvement.” If any of those survivors want a kit to be collected, DCFNE has relied on an internal process to store them, despite a lack of legal guidance from the District. As City Paper reported earlier this year, the organization can currently store non-report rape kits for two years, leaving survivors a window of time to decide if they’d like to pursue charges.

Read the full article HERE.