SENATE MEMORIAL 50

52nd legislature - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - second session, 2016

INTRODUCED BY

Mimi Stewart

A MEMORIAL

REQUESTING THAT THE SECRETARY OF PUBLIC SAFETY AND THE DIRECTOR OF THE STATEWIDE COALITION TO END SEXUAL VIOLENCE CONVENE A TASK FORCE TO STUDY AND REPORT ON THE PROCESSING OF BACKLOGGED SEXUAL ASSAULT EXAMINATION KITS.

     WHEREAS, reports of sexual assaults in New Mexico have increased sixty-two percent since 2003, and from 2003 through 2012, state funding for services for survivors of sexual assault has not increased to meet the increase in reports; and

     WHEREAS, sixty-six percent of incidents of sexual violence in New Mexico are committed against children and adolescents, which is twelve percent higher than the national average; and

     WHEREAS, one in four women and one in twenty men in New Mexico experience an attempted or completed rape in their lives, and eighty-three percent of those attempted or completed rapes are not reported; and

     WHEREAS, sexual assault survivors deserve the opportunity to receive information about the status of their cases, particularly if their cases are reopened or if additional information or evidence is revealed; and

     WHEREAS, this state, like many other states, has identified a backlog of more than five thousand sexual assault examination kits that have not been processed; and

     WHEREAS, as the state completes processing of backlogged sexual assault examination kits, new information and evidence will be revealed about survivors' cases, and increased services for survivors of sexual assault will be needed; and

     WHEREAS, for every survivor whose sexual assault examination kit was backlogged or not tested, the law should grant the survivor or the survivor's representative the right to:

          A. be notified by law enforcement and sexual assault service providers of any change in the status of the survivor's case;

          B. be notified of a DNA evidence match in the DNA database in connection with the survivor's case;

          C. be notified that the survivor's closed case has been reopened; and

          D. receive services by sexual assault service providers when the survivor's untested or backlogged sexual assault examination kit is tested;

     NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE SENATE OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO that the secretary of public safety and the director of the statewide coalition to end sexual violence be requested to convene a task force to assess the progress of processing backlogged sexual assault examination kits and to make related recommendations; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the task force be composed of:

          A. the secretary of public safety or the secretary's designee;

          B. the director of the statewide coalition to end sexual violence or the director's designee;

          C. the state auditor or the state auditor's designee;

          D. the attorney general or the attorney general's designee;

          E. the director of a rape crisis center that serves a community with a population of one hundred thousand or greater;

          F. the director of a rape crisis center that serves a community with a population of less than one hundred thousand;

          G. the director of a sexual assault nurse examiner program that serves a community with a population of one hundred thousand or greater;

          H. the director of a sexual assault nurse examiner program that serves a community with a population of less than one hundred thousand;

          I. the chief of the department of public safety's forensic laboratories bureau;

          J. the director of the Albuquerque police department's crime laboratory; and

          K. the statewide sexual assault nurse examiner coordinator; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the secretary of public safety or the secretary's designee and the director of the statewide coalition to end sexual violence or the director's designee serve as co-chairs of the task force; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the task force meet at least two times each year for five years, beginning in 2016; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the task force report annually to the interim legislative committee dealing with courts, corrections and justice issues and to the legislative health and human services committee with the task force's recommendations and updates on:

          A. progress made on processing backlogged sexual assault examination kits;

          B. contacts made by law enforcement and rape crisis center representatives with survivors whose sexual assault examination kits have been processed and where DNA evidence matches have been made in the DNA database;

          C. the adequacy of support services available to survivors who are affected by the processing of backlogged sexual assault examination kits; and

          D. any legislation the task force recommends for introduction; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that copies of this memorial be transmitted to the secretary of public safety, the director of the statewide coalition to end sexual violence, the attorney general, the chief of the department of public safety's forensic laboratories bureau, the director of the Albuquerque police department's crime laboratory and the statewide sexual assault nurse examiner coordinator.

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