New Campaign Pushes Governors Nationwide To Speed The Process of Rape Kits

CHICAGO (CBS) -- Three out of every 100 rapists will ever see a day in prison in the U.S. with a significant majority of rape kits never processed for DNA. There are an estimated 2,000 untested rape kits in Illinois and 400,000 in the U.S.

An organization has come up with a plan to eliminate the backlog of untested rape kits with the help of sexual assault survivors and elected officials.

Test400K, a national rape kit reform advocacy organization, sent Monday an express delivery rape kit with a tracking code to every governor in the nation as a part of a campaign to highlight the treatment of rape kit evidence.

Governors will receive a package this week containing a standard rape kit, as well as a request to sign and endorse three Test400K's National Call for Action reforms. The reforms call for every rape kit to not only be tested, but tested within 15-30 days and to implement a victim notification and rape kit tracking system.

The 'Just Track It' campaign calls for an "end to the systemic de-prioritization of the sexual violence that disproportionately impacts women and girls in our nation," said rape victim and co-founder of Test400K, Julie Smolyansky.

The fact that there is an estimated 400,000 untested rape kits sitting on shelves across the country and only a few states providing sexual assault survivors notification on the status of their kit is "outrageous," Smolyansky said. She hopes that governors nationwide will feel the same way and endorse Test400K Call to Action within the next few weeks.

Tracking codes are a basic customer service for sending packages anywhere in the world today, yet this courtesy is denied to rape victims and the law enforcement agencies investigating their cases, Test400K said in a statement.

"Faster processing with tracking means rape cases are investigated before any statute of limitations and ideally before a rapist brutalizes another innocent person," said Test400K Co-Founder Jason Burdeen. "Our mission with 'Just Track It' is to bring awareness to politicians and the public about the enormous backlog of untested rape kits and how technology, such as an online tracking system, can streamline the testing process, establish accountability and make all of our communities safer."

Just Track It shows how easy it is to use tracking codes. With this courtesy not being available for rape kits, victims wait months, years of even decades to receive information about the status of their rape kits.

Michelle Kuiper, a rape survivor and endorser of the Call to Action, was victim to a sexual assault in 1994 while in college. Her kit was not matched to a serial predator until 2011, almost two decades later.

"I was never able to fully live a life, without fear of my perpetrator finding me, until he was caught almost two decades later. A victim of their rapist not only has to survive the actual violence of rape itself, every feeling, thought, sound, image and smell… but, they have to figure out how to survive that trauma and their life after. I will never be fully healed, until I am in Heaven," said Kuiper, who championed a series of reforms in Kentucky.

If Kentucky had simple systems in place sooner, maybe other victims could have been spared "the pain I have endured," Kuiper said.

"I ask our nation's Governors to take a very close look at that Sexual Assault Forensic Exam kit, or S.A.F.E. kit they receive this week and realize that it is not only a 'box,' but someone's life in front of them," Kuiper said. "Someone who 'gave up' that evidence off their body in hopes for justice. Every governor has the opportunity to change a survivor's life for the better after a horrific tragedy has impacted them. Because one kit, one person, is one far too many."

Washington was the first state take on this plan with mandatory tacking and notifications on rape kits.

"I support the Test400K Call to Action to eliminate the backlog of untested rape kits and ensure justice for sexual assault victims," said Washington State Representative Tina Orwall. "I am pleased that we passed in Washington State the first-in-the-nation legislation to create a statewide tracking system for rape kits that allows law enforcement and victims to track the status and location of kits. This bill is about justice and transparency, and it's a critical step in rape kit reform to support survivors of sexual assault."

Test400K is hopeful for support from all governors and will be updating its website within the next two weeks on which governors have endorsed the Test400k Call to Action. To follow the tracking and see the updates, visit www.test400k.org