Survivors of sexual assault who are waiting for due process have faced a common problem in the state, not knowing whether their case is moving forward after providing what's called a rape kit.

Well, earlier this week, New Jersey's attorney general announced a statewide system is rolling out that allows each individual to remotely track their own case and to get updates privately in a way that's more sensitive to their emotional process.

It'll also create accountability for the more than 6,000 kits that have been collected, but not yet tested.

Here to explain how the system will work is First Assistant Attorney General, Lindsey Ritolo.

Lindsey, so great to have you with us.

I want to talk to you about the sexual assault forensic exams, these safe kits.

First, what are they?

-Sure.

So, a safe kit is taken by a forensic nurse examiner after an assault takes place.

A victim, of course, has to consent to this.

And if they do, then a highly trained, victim-centric nurse who usually works with law enforcement will meet them at a medical facility and will conduct a forensic examination, collect specimens that will have evidential value further down the line in a prosecution and store it in a kit called the safe kit.

-So, the states rolled out this electronic tracking system.

Help us understand why that was necessary.

What does it provide to survivors or those who come forward and allege that they've been raped?

-Of course.

So, we've taken, with Attorney General Plattken's leadership, a more victim-centric, trauma-informed approach.

And this is just one of several steps and reforms that we've implemented to achieve that goal.

In having a database, what we've done is we've provided victims and survivors with the freedom and autonomy to make their own decisions about when they get status updates and how.

So, at any point during their process of healing, a survivor can log into the portal and see where their track is in the system.

Has it left law enforcement?

Has it gone to a lab?

And this saves them from the potential re-traumatization of an unwanted status update from a law-enforcement officer.

We don't want to disrupt their life and their healing journey as they recover.

-Make that come to life for us.

What would that have looked like for a person?

And was there difficulty in that process in terms of there being a backlog?

What did that look like?

-So, what we heard from survivors is that it's such a fragile journey, right?

Like, there are days where they're able to move on with their life.

And often, that would be the day that they would, you know, be picking up their kids from school and have a voicemail missed from a detective who's just giving them an update that we thought was intentional and helpful in their healing journey, but was actually really disruptive.

So, this allows them to decide when they want to log on.

The general has also changed the standards that we use in collecting kits, storing them, and also the discretion that used to exist here in New Jersey among law enforcement, where a victim had consented to having their kit tested, it wouldn't always be tested.

And this left, you know, several thousand kits untested in the state of New Jersey.

Attorney General Plattken, through directive, has mandated that all kits that a victim has consented to testing will now go through a forensic lab test.

That discretion has been eliminated.

- So, does this then create the need for more law enforcement folks involved in the testing process to ensure that these cases actually move forward?

- Actually, the area where we need to really bolster our staffing is in forensic science.

We're working closely with the state lab and the counties that have labs to really support them so that they can handle the influx in kits.

And I would encourage any of your viewers who are educators to really focus on STEM students and encourage them to pursue and consider careers in forensic science.

It's a really impactful career.

- These are really tangible changes that we're seeing kind of on the front end.

Does it create more accountability on the back end where more cases are actually brought forward, more cases are tried?

- Of course.

The mission was to create more victim-centric, trauma-informed policy and reform, and General Plotkin has done that since he took office.

But one of the other effects that this has had is we want to encourage survivors to come forward, and they're going to be more likely to do that if there is a more approachable system for them, a system that's easier for them to navigate.

But by having more of them come forward and by testing every kit that we collect, we're able to identify serial offenders, and then that does lead to more accountability.

And of course, from a public safety perspective, we want to prevent future harm by finding perpetrators and holding them accountable.

- And just very quickly, the law that was passed in 2023 also changed the time in which a person could come forward and say that they had been raped.

Can you explain that quickly?

- And the legislature also changed the statute of limitations to allow for victims and survivors more time to come forward.

- Yeah.

Lindsay Ritolo, First Assistant Attorney General here in the state of New Jersey, thank you.

- Thank you.

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