TBA Law Blog


Posted by: Stacey Shrader Joslin on Jul 7, 2021

The state legislature passed the Jim Coley Protection for Rape Survivors Act in May to enhance protections for victims of sexual assault. The new law went into effect on July 1 but one of its key provisions — an electronic tracking system for sexual assault kits — may take a year to be up and running, Tennessee Lookout reports. To help expedite the process, state law enforcement officials are looking at a software system developed by the Portland, Oregon, Police Bureau to provide justice and accountability for assault survivors. The system will allow law enforcement, prosecutors and victims to monitor the status of rape kits with an assigned identification number. Portland had discovered more than 5,000 untested rape kits in 2015. Within three years, it had reduced the backlog to almost zero.