Sponsored by:
Senator STEPHEN M. SWEENEY
District 3 (Cumberland, Gloucester and Salem)
Senator LORETTA WEINBERG
District 37 (Bergen)
Assemblywoman VALERIE VAINIERI HUTTLE
District 37 (Bergen)
Assemblywoman NANCY J. PINKIN
District 18 (Middlesex)
Assemblywoman NANCY F. MUNOZ
District 21 (Morris, Somerset and Union)
Co-Sponsored by:
Senator Pou, Assemblywoman Murphy, Assemblymen Holley, Howarth, Peterson, Assemblywoman Downey, Assemblyman Benson, Assemblywomen Timberlake, Quijano, DiMaso and Lampitt
SYNOPSIS
Requires AG to conduct survey of untested sexual assault examination kits.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
As introduced.
An Act requiring a survey of untested sexual assault examination kits and supplementing Title 52 of the Revised Statutes.
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. a. The Attorney General, in consultation with the New Jersey Coalition Against Sexual Assault, shall develop a survey concerning the sexual assault examination kits in the possession of law enforcement agencies in this State that have not been submitted to a laboratory approved by the Attorney General for serology or deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) testing. The survey shall be distributed to and completed by every law enforcement agency in the State which is responsible for the collection, storage, and maintenance of sexual assault examination kits.
b. The survey shall include, but not be limited to, questions designed to elicit responsive information concerning: agency policies and procedures governing the submission of sexual assault examination kits to an approved forensic laboratory for testing, including specific submission criteria, timelines, and victim notifications; agency policies and procedures for logging, tracking, and storing sexual assault examination kits; descriptive, statistical, and other relevant information about the sexual assault examination kits currently in the agency’s possession; and any other information the Attorney General deems appropriate.
c. The Attorney General shall distribute the survey developed pursuant to this section to all law enforcement agencies in this State, which shall submit responses in a timely manner.
d. The Attorney General shall prepare a report summarizing the information contained in the responses to the survey, provided, however, that the report shall not contain any personal or identifying information about any victim. The Attorney General shall submit the report to the Governor and, pursuant to section 2 of P.L.1991, c.164 (C.52:14-19.1), to the Legislature.
2. This act shall take effect on the first day of the fourth month next following enactment, except that the Attorney General may take any anticipatory administrative action in advance necessary for the implementation of the act.
STATEMENT
This bill requires the Attorney General to conduct a survey of untested sexual assault examination kits in this State and report the findings of the survey.
Under the bill, the Attorney General, in consultation with the New Jersey Coalition Against Sexual Assault, is required to conduct a survey concerning sexual assault examination kits in the possession of law enforcement agencies in this State that have not been submitted to a laboratory approved by the Attorney General for serology or deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) testing.
The survey is required to include, but not be limited to, questions concerning: agency policies and procedures governing the submission of sexual assault examination kits to an approved forensic laboratory for testing, including specific submission criteria, timelines, and victim notifications; agency policies and procedures for logging, tracking, and storing sexual assault examination kits; descriptive, statistical, and other relevant information about the sexual assault examination kits currently in the agency’s possession; and any other information the Attorney General deems appropriate.
The bill requires the Attorney General to distribute the survey to all law enforcement agencies in the State and requires these agencies to submit responses in a timely manner. The Attorney General is required to prepare a report summarizing the information contained in the responses to the survey. However, the report is not to contain any personal or identifying information about any victim. The Attorney General is required to submit the report to the Governor and the Legislature.