State Representative Adkins Honored as Legislator of the Year

Representative Janet Adkins
Representative Janet Adkins

Media Release from office of Representative Janet Adkins
May 19, 2016, 3:19 p.m.

 

State Representative Janet Adkins was honored on May 12, 2016 by the Florida Council Against Sexual Violence during their 2016 Biennial Summit and Awards Luncheon in Jacksonville, Florida. Representative Adkins was recognized as the FCASV’s Legislator of the Year for her work on behalf of sexual assault victims.

“The Florida Council Against Sexual Violence is honored to recognize Rep. Adkins as an Outstanding Legislator for her tireless work on the untested rape kit backlog issue,” said Jennifer Dritt, Executive Director of the Florida Council Against Sexual Violence. “Rep. Adkins’s tough-minded and collaborative advocacy has not only made a significant impact in protecting victims’ rights but it also empowers victims to seek justice in a situation where they too often feel powerless.”

The Florida Council Against Sexual Violence (FCASV) is a federally recognized, statewide non-profit organization committed to victims and survivors of sexual violence and the sexual assault crisis programs who serve them. They serve as a resource to the state on sexual violence issues. FCASV provides information, assistance and leadership on all aspects of sexual violence, including rape, child abuse, stalking and sexual harassment.

“I am honored to have received this recognition from the Florida Council Against Sexual Violence,” stated Rep. Adkins. “With their support, we passed legislation to ensure that DNA evidence collected in sexual assault cases receives timely testing. This is a huge step forward to providing justice to the victims and putting the offenders in jail.”

In September, State Representative Janet Adkins filed House Bill 179, Evidence Collected in Sexual Assault Investigations, in the Florida House of Representatives. The bill was cosponsored by 68 members of the Florida House of Representatives. The similar Senate companion bill, CS/CS/636 received final passage with unanimous support in both the House and the Senate. The bill was signed into law on March 23, 2016.

The bill requires that a sexual offense evidence kit, collected in a sexual offense investigation, be submitted to the statewide criminal analysis laboratory system for forensic testing within 30 days after the evidence is received by a law enforcement agency if a report of the sexual offense is made to the agency, or when the victim or his or her representative requests that the evidence be tested. Testing of the sexual offense evidence kit must be completed no later than 120 days after submission to a member of the statewide criminal analysis laboratory system.

In 2015, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement reported a backlog of 13,000 unprocessed rape kits and indicated that in 13,400 evidence kits were received for analysis, with a 141% increase over the last four years. Prior to the passage of the bill, there was not a statewide process for the testing of the rape kits.

“The passage of House Bill 179 was one of my top priorities for the 2016 legislative session,” stated Representative Adkins. “When I first began working on this legislation I heard from many rape victims who shared stories of unresolved cases and the torment that it brought to them and their families. One victim shared that she had been raped in 2001 and her rape kit was not tested until 2014. The perpetrator was found, but after the long wait, unfortunately, he walked out of jail after serving two weeks’ time due in part to stale testimony. This was just one of many heartbreaking stories that reinforced the need to craft a statewide process for rape-kit testing.”