The U.S. Federal government has pledged approximately $80 million to test thousands of rape kits across the United States. Rape kits are used to collect biological evidence from women and girls who have been raped or suffered other forms of sexual violence. However, many kits remain untested and have never been used to solve sexual assault cases. The new grant money will be used to address the backlog of rape kits, as well as analyze why police and prosecutors in the U.S. fail to test rape kits or investigate many cases of sexual violence.
Compiled from: Gray, Eliza, Authorities Invest $80 Million in Ending the Rape Kit Backlog, Time (September 10, 2015).