KIYC learns NJ attorney general is considering directive for all rape kits to be tested

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A Kane in Your Corner investigation into New Jersey’s treatment of sexual assault victims appears to be having an additional impact. News 12 has learned the New Jersey Office of the Attorney General is now considering a directive, requiring police to test all rape kits that survivors release to law enforcement. The news comes in the wake of State Sen. Joe Cryan (D – Union) saying the Kane In Your Corner investigation prompted him to write test-all-kits legislation. In the three-year investigation “Victims of the System,” Kane In Your Corner told the stories of numerous women who survived the horror of sexual assault, only to say their treatment by law enforcement made them feel like victims all over again. Many said they felt like the police didn’t take them seriously, and the proof was that their rape kits went untested for years or were never tested at all. Kane In Your Corne r has now learned that New Jersey Attorney General Matthew Platkin is considering issuing a directive that would require law enforcement to test any rape kit that a survivor chooses to release. The proposed directive may also require law enforcement to come up with a plan to test all previously untested kits. An NJOAG spokesperson confirms that the agency is working on the directive, but says she does not know when it might be released and says that the language has not been finalized. RELATED: Gov. Murphy says he’s open to legislation to require all rape kits to be tested MORE: Kane In Your Corner - Victims of the System special RELATED: KIYC investigative documentary drawing bipartisan call for NJ to test rape kits Gov. Phil Murphy had recently hinted a new directive might be in the works. In an appearance on News 12’s “ Ask Gov. Murphy ” program on June 27, the governor said, “It’s got to get fixed and I think the attorney general has a plan that they’re executing.” The NJOAG had previously argued that testing all kits is unnecessary because in some cases survivors can identify their attackers, rendering DNA evidence unnecessary. Advocacy groups including the Joyful Heart Foundation and the Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network (RAINN) strongly disagreed and pointed to examples from other states, where testing backlogged kits led to hundreds of serial rapists being arrested. The word of a possible NJOAG directive comes just days after Cryan told Kane In Your Corner that “Victims of the System” had inspired him to sponsor “test all kits” legislation. “You've highlighted an issue, you've forced it forward, and you are going to make New Jersey do the things that should have been done previously,” Cryan said. "