Debbie Smith Reauthorization Act of 2008

I thank the distinguished member of the Judiciary Committee and the manager of the minority side, as well as the chairman of the full committee, Mr. Conyers; the ranking member, Mr. Smith; the subcommittee Chair, Mr. Scott; and the ranking member, Mr. Gohmert.

As a member of the subcommittee on crime and a senior member of the House Judiciary Committee, I rise with great enthusiasm to support H.R. 5057, the Debbie Smith Reauthorization Act of 2008.

And I salute Mr. and Mrs. Smith. This is not a new bill to me. Congresswoman Maloney has worked very hard and has engaged the many women of the Congress to look at this issue in many, many different ways. We thank you, Debbie Smith for your courage, and we thank you for your bravery.

This is an important initiative. There are many improvements that have made this bill even better, but had it not been for Debbie Smith and her courage, we would not be where we are today.

As my colleague has already said, this bill was named for Debbie Smith who was kidnapped in her Virginia home and raped by a stranger. The Debbie Smith DNA backlog grant bill authorized grant money to States to collect samples from crime scenes and convicted persons.

This legislation also allows us to conduct DNA analysis and enter these results into a comprehensive national database. Debbie Smith's attacker remained unidentified for over 6 years, until a DNA sample collected from a convicted person serving time in Virginia State prison revealed his involvement in her rape. Although eventually identified, the 6 years between crime and identification allowed Ms. Smith's attacker to engage in more criminal activity.

What is the purpose and value of this legislation? It is to ensure that the perpetrator, the person who has acted in a violent and heinous way, is tried and convicted in a direct and fair and just manner, and that this individual is taken off the streets in order not to harm anyone else.

I am very gratified that we have expanded this legislation and that it is also an opportunity not only to ensure that those who have committed the crime are ``doing the time'' but to make sure that DNA is accurate and untainted for a fair and just results.

I support this legislation, and therefore, I offered a successful amendment that would require the Attorney General to evaluate the integrity and security of DNA collection and storage practices and procedures at a sample of crime laboratories throughout the country to determine the extent to which DNA samples are tampered with or are otherwise contaminated in such laboratories. This is crucial. A person who should be convicted and is still walking the streets, can create more danger, and those who have been tried and incarcerated on contaminated DNA deserve a fair and just recommendation of their case. Contaminated DNA helps no one and this amendment corrects that problem.

The sample should be a representative sample and should include at least one lab from each State. My amendment would require the Attorney General to conduct this evaluation annually, and the Attorney General would be required to submit the evaluation to Congress. This amendment is necessary, and it authorizes some $10 million over a 5-year period to allow this process to occur.

In Harris County, Texas, and other places around the Nation, DNA evidence was contaminated and wrongfully used to convict persons based upon faulty evidence. An investigation into the crime lab in Houston, for example, revealed that bad management, undertrained staff, false documentation, and inaccurate work cast doubt on thousands of DNA-based convictions. Investigators raised serious questions about the reliability of evidence in hundreds of cases they investigated and asked for further independent scrutiny and new testing to determine the extent to which individuals were wrongly convicted with faulty evidence.

Two individuals, Mr. Rodriguez and Mr. Joshua Sutton, were victimized by this faulty DNA process. Both served time in jail and were released when their cases were properly reviewed.

This is evidence that my amendment helps an already good bill, which will help victims like Mrs. Smith, but it also provides the added integrity to this system.

My amendment ensures that Congress will exercise the appropriate oversight over the DNA Data Collection Program. It will ensure the integrity and security of the DNA collection and storage procedures. It is my hope that my amendment will minimize wrongful convictions and will make the DNA storage and collection process more reliable.

When such a sacrifice has been made by someone as brave as Mrs. Smith, along with the work that has been done by my colleague, Congresswoman Maloney, and this Congress, it further enhances the Nation's criminal justice system. We all agree, the criminal justice system should convict those who have done these dastardly acts, incarcerate them through a fair process of justice. And then, those who are innocent, make sure that the criminal justice system has the tools to insure them not guilty through transparent DNA evidence.

This is the way the American's justice system should be. We want this open fair system as much for Harris County, Texas, as we want it for Los Angeles, Chicago, and other places around the Nation.

This bill is a bill of integrity and fairness, and it upholds the fair justice system of the United States of America.

Mr. Speaker, this act authorizes funding to eliminate the large backlogs of DNA crime scene samples awaiting testing in State forensic labs. I am in support of this bill.

In recent years, law enforcement agencies have realized the critical value that DNA evidence has in quickly solving cases. Often, a DNA sample result can scientifically link a perpetrator to a crime or prove a defendant's innocence with virtual certainty. Many of the Nation's Federal and State criminal forensics laboratories currently are overwhelmed with innumerable samples awaiting DNA analysis.

Named for Debbie Smith, who was kidnapped in her Virginia home and raped by a stranger, the Debbie Smith DNA Backlog Grant Program authorized grant money to States to collect samples from crime scenes and convicted persons, conduct DNA analyses, and enter these results into a comprehensive national database. Debbie Smith's attacker remained unidentified for over six years, until a DNA sample collected from a convicted person serving time in a Virginia State prison revealed his involvement in her rape. Although eventually identified, the six years between crime and identification allowed Ms. Smith's attacker to engage in more criminal activity.

Reauthorization of the Debbie Smith DNA Backlog Grant Program will help law enforcement throughout the Nation. It will facilitate the development of a comprehensive national data base against which samples from current crime scenes can be compared. It will allow laboratories to reduce the currently unacceptable delays in processing DNA samples. Finally, it will provide law enforcement and prosecutors strong tools to quickly identify and prosecute criminals, minimizing the costs of investigation and prosecution, the possibility of prosecuting the wrong person and the possibility of future heinous crimes.

Recognizing that the backlog of biological evidence that had to be entered in State databases was preventing law enforcement officials from solving many of the Nation's most heinous crimes, like the tragedy that befell Debbie Smith, Congress passed the DNA ``Analysis Backlog Elimination Act of 2000'' (P.L. 106-546). The bill authorized the Attorney General to make grants to eligible States to collect DNA samples from convicted individuals and crime scenes for inclusion in the Federal DNA database, Combined DNA Index System (CODIS), and to increase the capacity of State crime laboratories. The act required the Bureau of Prisons and the military to collect DNA samples from convicted individuals and forward these samples for analysis, and required the FBI to expand its CODIS database to include the analyses of these DNA samples.

The act also amended the criminal code to require all defendants on probation or supervised release to cooperate with the collection of a DNA sample. The act expressed the sense of Congress that State grants should be conditioned upon the State's agreement to ensure post- conviction DNA testing in appropriate cases; and that Congress should work with the States to improve the quality of legal representation in capital cases. Finally, the act authorized an unspecified amount of appropriations to the Attorney General to carry out the act.

In 2004, DNA backlog elimination was incorporated into the Justice for All Act of 2004'', P.L. 108-405 and was renamed the Debbie Smith DNA Backlog Grant Program, which became Title II of P.L. 108-405. While the act authorized $151 million for each fiscal year 2005-2009, Congress did not appropriate any money until FY 2008, at which time it appropriated $147.4 million.

The Debbie Smith DNA Backlog Grant Program expires at the end of FY 2009. H.R. 5057, the ``Debbie Smith Reauthorization Act,'' which has strong bipartisan support, would renew the law and authorize $151 million for each fiscal year 2009-2014. H.R. 5057 specifies that not less than 40 percent of the total amount awarded in grants must be used for DNA analyses of samples from crime scenes, rape kits and other sexual assault evidence, and in cases that do not have an identified suspect.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 5057, the ``Debbie Smith Reauthorization Act of 2008'' (reauthorizing Title II of P.L. 108-405). This Act authorizes funding to eliminate the large backlogs of DNA crime scene samples awaiting testing in State forensic labs. I am in support of this bill.

In recent years, law enforcement agencies have realized the critical value that DNA evidence has in quickly solving cases. Often, a DNA sample result can scientifically link a perpetrator to a crime or prove a defendant's innocence with virtual certainty. Many of the Nation's Federal and State criminal forensics laboratories currently are overwhelmed with innumerable samples awaiting DNA analysis.

Named for Debbie Smith, who was kidnapped in her Virginia home and raped in nearby woods by a stranger, the Debbie Smith DNA Backlog Grant Program authorized grant money to states to collect samples from crime scenes and convicted persons, conduct DNA analyses, and enter these results into a comprehensive national database. Debbie Smith's attacker remained unidentified for over six years, until a DNA sample collected from a convicted person serving time in a Virginia State prison revealed his involvement in her rape. Although eventually identified, the six years between crime and identification allowed Ms. Smith's attacker to engage in more criminal activity.

Re-authorization of the Debbie Smith DNA Backlog Grant Program will help law enforcement throughout the Nation. It will facilitate the development of a comprehensive national data base against which samples from current crime scenes can be compared. It will allow laboratories to reduce the currently unacceptable delays in processing DNA samples. Finally, it will provide law enforcement and prosecutors strong tools to quickly identify and prosecute criminals, minimizing the costs of investigation and prosecution, the possibility of prosecuting the wrong person and the possibility of future heinous crimes.

Recognizing that the backlog of biological evidence that had to be entered in State databases was preventing law enforcement officials from solving many of the Nation's most heinous crimes, like the tragedy that befell Debbie Smith, Congress passed the DNA ``Analysis Backlog Elimination Act of 2000'' (P.L. 106-546). The bill authorized the Attorney General to make grants to eligible States to collect DNA samples from convicted individuals and crime scenes for inclusion in the federal DNA database, Combined DNA Index System (CODIS), and to increase the capacity of State crime laboratories. The Act required the Bureau of Prisons and the military to collect DNA samples from convicted individuals and forward these samples for analysis, and required the FBI to expand its CODIS database to include the analyses of these DNA samples.

The Act also amended the criminal code to require all defendants on probation or supervised release to cooperate with the collection of a DNA sample. The Act expressed the sense of Congress that State grants should be conditioned upon the State's agreement to ensure post- conviction DNA testing in appropriate cases; and that Congress should work with the States to improve the quality of legal representation in capital cases. Finally, the Act authorized an unspecified amount of appropriations to the Attorney General to carry out the Act.

In 2004, DNA backlog elimination was incorporated into the Justice for All Act of 2004'', P.L. 108-405 and was renamed the Debbie Smith DNA Backlog Grant Program, which became Title II of P.L. 108-405. While the Act authorized $151 million for each fiscal year 2005-2009, Congress did not appropriate any money until FY 2008, at which time it appropriated $147.4 million.

The Debbie Smith DNA Backlog Grant Program expires at the end of FY 2009. H.R. 5057, the ``Debbie Smith Reauthorization Act,'' which has strong bipartisan support, would renew the law and authorize $151 million for each fiscal year 2009-2014. H.R. 5057 specifies that not less than 40 percent of the total amount awarded in grants must be used for DNA analyses of samples from crime scenes, rape kits and other sexual assault evidence, and in cases that do not have an identified suspect.

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 5057) to reauthorize the Debbie Smith DNA Backlog Grant Program, as amended.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on the bill under consideration.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, H.R. 5057, the Debbie Smith Reauthorization Act of 2008, authorizes the Attorney General to provide grants to States to assist them in reducing the enormous DNA evidence backlog in the Nation's laboratories. This important legislation will help to solve more crimes. It will help to solve more crimes more quickly, and perhaps most importantly, it will help to ensure that other crimes are prevented altogether.

Across our Nation, law enforcement officers and prosecutors have come to recognize the role that DNA evidence can play in solving crimes. As a result, ever-increasing numbers of DNA samples are being collected from crime scenes and offenders. There is no better example that demonstrates the effectiveness of DNA technology in solving crimes than that of Debbie Smith, the bill's namesake.

In 1989, Ms. Smith was kidnapped in her Virginia home and viciously attacked by a stranger who threatened her life should she report the attack. Nevertheless, with remarkable courage and determination, she reported the rape, and the crime lab preserved the DNA evidence of her attacker. Eventually, when the perpetrator was required to provide a DNA sample for a separate violent crime he was convicted for, a match was made to the sample collected from his attack on Ms. Smith, identifying him as her attacker.

Mr. Speaker, Debbie Smith and her husband, Rob, are here with us today, and I would like to ask them to stand so we can not only acknowledge their presence but thank them for their courage and determination and their work which has served as the driving force behind this legislation.

The remarkable law enforcement value of DNA evidence has unfortunately been limited by the enormous backlog of DNA samples still awaiting analysis. This means that crimes remain unsolved, violent offenders remain at large, and innocent individuals may be wrongfully imprisoned. H.R. 5057 would significantly increase the funding levels authorized for this important program and would also provide for important studies to further improve the system. H.R. 5057 also includes a number of other important initiatives that were adopted during the committee process.

Beginning in the 1990s, the Nation's crime labs were largely unprepared for the onslaught of requests for DNA services. Samples continue to pour into our Nation's crime labs at a pace faster than they can be processed. In order to address backlog problems, many States have begun outsourcing some of the work to accredited private laboratories. However, the FBI requires the crime labs perform in-house technical reviews of 100 percent of database samples from contract labs. While this requirement is certainly important with regard to forensic casework samples, it is found to be an onerous requirement with regard to the rather simple swabs that are taken from convicted offenders.

In fact, these requirements add substantial additional costs and further delay backlog reduction. Indeed, even Debbie Smith grant funds are expended on fulfilling these onerous requirements.

The National Institute of Justice has confirmed that ``the burden of these requirements has increased the backlog of convicted offender samples, cost millions of dollars, and forced crime laboratories to remove staff from analyzing rape kits and other forensic samples.''

In order to address this issue, I offered a bipartisan provision with my colleague Representative Dan Lungren that would create a new National DNA Index System Advisory Board to ensure diverse representation of views, including State and local lab directors, officials from the FBI and DOJ, and other relevant stakeholders.

The board is directed to develop new standards governing the use of the Federal index that provide for the expedited uploading by State and local forensic labs of convicted offender profiles generated by private labs. These new standards are to be issued within 6 months.

In addition, the board is directed to look into the feasibility of other measures that would greatly expedite analysis and uploading, as well as backlog reduction. These include the feasibility and desirability of entering into agreements with private forensic labs to enable direct access to CODIS for the purpose of uploading DNA analyses of samples obtained from persons convicted of crimes; the feasibility and desirability of providing for more limited technical review audits of DNA analyses of samples prior to uploading such data into CODIS; and the feasibility and desirability permitting greater participation in the technical review process of contractor personnel.

I also authored another provision in this legislation that aims to increase the crime-solving abilities of our DNA databases.

Today, 12 States collect samples from murder and sex crime arrestees, including my home State of California. Four of these States, including California, collect or are preparing to collect samples from all felony arrestees.

Virginia was the first State to expand its database to include arrestees, and since then, the State has seen a total of 398 hits to their arrestee database, 74 of which were associated with sexual assault cases. For the first two months of this year alone, six hits to arrestees were made, the first hit coming just after the upload of the first 80 samples into the database.

A 2005 Chicago study examined the criminal activities of only eight individuals and found that 60 violent crimes could have been prevented, including 53 murders and rapes, if DNA was required for felony arrests.

In one example, Andre Crawford was charged with 11 murders and one attempted murder/aggravated sexual assault. If the State had required him to give a DNA sample during an earlier felony arrest, the subsequent 10 murders and one rape would not have occurred.

In another example, Mario Villa was charged with four rapes, linked by DNA to two other rapes, and a main suspect in an additional rape and two attempted rapes. If the State had required him to give a DNA sample during an earlier felony arrest, eight rapes or attempted rapes could have been prevented.

A recent Maryland study looked at the criminal histories for three offenders and found that 20 crimes, including rapes, sexual assaults, and murder could have been prevented had their DNA samples been required upon arrest.

Mr. Speaker, States who have moved to collect arrestee samples, such as Virginia and California, are greatly increasing the power of the national DNA network, while States with far narrower collection regimes are making the Federal database, which Congress has invested a substantial amount of money in, less sufficient. These States can still avail themselves of the Federal database and take full advantage of the expansive collection regimes of other States.

Therefore, a provision of this bill would provide incentives for States to follow the lead of the 12 States that currently collect samples from individuals arrested for or charged with murder and sex crimes. These States who would enact such an enhanced collection process would be eligible for a 10 percent increase in Federal formula law enforcement funds.

Since State backlogs are so huge and Federal funds remain limited, States have had to share a significant portion of the burden to fund these activities. However, State funding can fluctuate from year-to- year given the budget process and competing priorities. Some States, such as California, have penalty fee structures in place that provide a more stable and consistent funding stream.

Proposition 69 in California provided for a $1 penalty for every $10 or fraction thereof upon every fine, penalty and forfeiture levied on criminal offenses, including traffic expenses, but excluding parking. Over $40 million has been raised in California since its inception, and this has taken some of the burden off the Federal Government and the Debbie Smith grant funds available each year.

States should be encouraged to put such structures in place and for their ability to not rely as heavily on Federal resources.

Therefore, I authored a provision in this bill that would authorize the Attorney General to provide matching funds to those States that have implemented permanent funding mechanisms that generate funds, whether by fees or penalties, that are allocated by the State only for the purpose of analyzing DNA samples for law enforcement purposes.

Finally, this legislation includes a separate grant authorization for upgrading laboratory capability and infrastructure. And it provides supplemental grant incentives for States to fund their own DNA initiatives.

We have a comprehensive bill that will give lawmakers the best information for formulating policy, as well as provide law enforcement the most up-to-date tools and technology for solving crimes.

I'd like to commend Carolyn Maloney of New York for her leadership in authoring this bill. I also want to thank Chairman Conyers and Ranking Member Smith of Texas, as well as Subcommittee Chairman Bobby Scott and Ranking Member Louie Gohmert for their leadership in making this a fully bipartisan effort.

I urge my colleagues to support this legislation.

I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, it gives me great pleasure to recognize the gentlewoman from Texas (Ms. Jackson-Lee) for 4 minutes.

I would be happy to yield an additional minute to the gentlewoman from Texas.

Mr. Speaker, the reauthorization of this important program also provides us with an opportunity to investigate some important related issues.

From my work on this issue, I've learned that the Federal Government is unable to determine how many hits the Federal Government informs States about are actually followed up on by law enforcement. I think this data is very important for policymakers to have.

A few years ago, USA Today engaged in a comprehensive examination of DNA cases. In one case, the DNA of a convicted child molester matched DNA from an attempted sexual assault of a 10-year-old girl. Police did not contact the offender until after he had molested another 10-year- old child 6 months later.

In another case, the DNA of a career felon matched DNA left at a rape and abduction from 2001. At the time the offender was serving a prison sentence for assault. The police did not contact him until 8 months later, after he had been released from prison and only after being alerted by the rape victim, who encountered the offender by chance while walking in a local park.

These are two examples of situations where there was a match made in the Federal database. States were informed about it, but no action was taken, with tragic consequences. Therefore, I have authored a provision in this bill that would direct the Department of Justice Inspector General to investigate and report on how many CODIS database hits are actually followed up on by law enforcement, how many of those hits are ultimately brought to the attention of a prosecutor and how many go to trial.

Importantly, the report will also shed additional light on the factors that play in the event that matches were not followed up on. In particular, we asked the IG to determine the reason why matches were not pursued accordingly, and to determine the resulting impact on the criminal justice system, namely, whether other crimes were committed that could have been prevented if the matches were pursued accordingly.

Mr. Speaker, in the absence of any further speakers, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and agree to the concurrent resolution (H. Con. Res. 330) supporting the goals and ideals of National Sexual Assault Awareness and Prevention Month.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on the resolution under consideration.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Studies show that 1 in 6 women and 1 in 33 men will be a victim of rape or attempted rape in their lifetime and that, on average, a person is sexually assaulted in the United States every 2\1/2\ minutes. In my State of Wisconsin, there were 5,628 sexual assaults reported in the year 2004, the last year statistics are available. This marks a 3.7 percent increase from the previous year. Nationwide, we know that children and young adults are most at risk. Forty-four percent of sexual assault victims are under the age of 18, and 80 percent are under the age of 30.

Although most victims are younger women, the effects of sexual assault cross all racial, social, religious, ethnic, and economic boundaries. Whether the crime is rape, incest, child sexual abuse, stalking, or sexual harassment, sexual assault impacts our schools, our workplaces, our streets, and our homes. Survivors are our sons, our daughters, our brothers, our sisters, our friends, our grandparents.

In addition to the physical effects of victimization, the emotional scars felt by sexual assault survivors may persist long after the physical scars have healed. Sexual violence costs an estimated $127 billion per year in medical expenses, lost productivity, treatment of psychological trauma, and pain and suffering. Yet we know that only 41 percent of sexual assault survivors pursue prosecution by reporting their attack to law enforcement officials, and despite the support services offered by the National Sexual Assault Hotline and more than 1,000 crisis centers across the Nation, fewer than 50 percent of survivors ever tell anyone about their experience. These statistics are staggering and unconscionable. Despite the alarming prevalence of sexual assault, there is a clear and significant need for more public education and awareness.

National Sexual Assault Awareness and Prevention Month does just this. Observed each year in April, this dedicated month provides a special opportunity to educate Americans about sexual violence and to encourage the prevention of sexual assault, the improved treatment of its survivors, and the prosecution of its perpetrators.

As part of the National Sexual Assault Awareness and Prevention Month, we recognize national and community organizations, as well as private sector supporters, for their work in promoting awareness about sexual assault. We also applaud public safety, law enforcement, and health professionals for their hard work and innovative strategies to increase the percentage of sexual assault cases that result in the prosecution and incarceration of offenders.

Along with my colleague, Congressman Ted Poe from Texas, I introduced House Concurrent Resolution 330 to recognize April 2008 as National Sexual Assault Awareness and Prevention Month. By supporting this resolution, we highlight the efforts of individuals and agencies that provide rape crisis intervention and prevention services. We also call attention to sexual violence as a major public health issue and raise awareness of the need for increased resources for preventing sexual violence.

Mr. Speaker, I want to quickly extend my thanks to a number of advocates for their work on sexual assault prevention. In Wisconsin, we are incredibly lucky to have the Wisconsin Coalition Against Sexual Assault working to create the social change necessary to end sexual violence. My thanks to the Coalition and their member organizations across the State for the important work that they do.

Since the first national observance of Sexual Assault Awareness Month in 2001, many Members of Congress have been actively involved in ensuring congressional support for efforts to raise awareness around sexual violence. I wholeheartedly thank all the cosponsors of this bipartisan resolution for once again lending their names to this worthy cause.

Finally, I want to extend my sincerest thank you to my colleague, Congressman Ted Poe, for his strong support as the lead sponsor of this resolution. Mr. Poe has been a dedicated advocate for victims and victims' rights in this Congress, and I have very much admired his commitment to ending sexual violence in all forms. Thank for your hard work and leadership on this resolution.

Although we have made significant progress, we still have far to go in eradicating the harm inflicted on our community by sexual assault. I urge all of my colleagues to fully support this resolution recognizing the National Sexual Assault Awareness and Prevention Month.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I have no requests for time at this moment. I would continue to reserve.

Mr. Speaker, in closing, I wish to urge my colleagues to support this resolution. As we have heard, this bill supports the goals and ideals of National Sexual Assault Awareness and Prevention Month and highlights the need for increased awareness about this major public health issue. I wish to again commend my colleague, the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Poe), for his heartfelt and strong leadership on this issue, and urge all of my colleagues to support its passage.

Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding and for his extraordinary leadership on so many important issues before this body, including the Debbie Smith Act, which I rise today in strong support of, H.R. 5057, the Debbie Smith Reauthorization Act that I introduced to ensure that the nationwide backlog of DNA evidence is processed.

I want to thank the bill's supporters in the Senate, especially Senators Biden, Leahy, Kyl and Specter, for their assistance in getting this legislation through the Senate and back to the House before we adjourn.

I also want to commend Chairman Conyers for his leadership, Ranking Member Smith, Chairman Scott and Ranking Member Gohmert, along with Anthony Weiner and so many of my colleagues for their support and commitment to this issue.

Advocates have called the Debbie Smith Act one of the most important anti-crime bills that has ever passed Congress and one of the most important anti-violence against women and anti-rape pieces of legislation ever.

I first introduced the grant program in 2001 after a rape victim whose attacker was later identified through DNA analysis testified before a hearing in Congress. The long, bipartisan effort to pass the original legislation was made into a Lifetime movie entitled ``A Life Interrupted: The Debbie Smith Story.'' I thank Lifetime and Oprah for having championed the passage of this important legislation.

I have been working on this issue since 2001, when I organized a hearing in the Government Reform and Oversight Committee to examine the use of DNA to both convict and to exonerate. We reached out to many victims to testify. Only one would come before Congress, Debbie Smith.

She told her horrifying story, how an intruder broke into her suburban home in Williamsburg, Virginia, in 1989 and raped her repeatedly in nearby woods while her police officer husband slept upstairs. He rushed her to the police station. DNA was taken, but in many ways her life was destroyed, as she believed he would come back as he said he would and kill her if she had told anybody what happened.

Six years later, after an assailant was charged with her rape, because DNA processing techniques had produced a cold hit with a State prisoner's DNA sample, that match gave Debbie her first moment of closure and security. Since then, Debbie and her husband, Robert, have lobbied Congress, traveled the country and started a not-for-profit to help victims of rape.

It was unconscionable that hundreds of thousands of rape kits with DNA evidence already collected were gathering dust in police stations and crime labs all over this country, and it is still unconscionable that according to the U.S. Department of Justice, there are over 221,000 untested rape kits on shelves and evidence cabinets in States across our country.

It was for Debbie and rape survivors like her that in 2001 I authored the Debbie Smith Act to provide Federal funding to process the backlog of DNA evidence. The bill helped standardize the evidence collection of kits for sexual assaults, making it easier to enter the information into State and national databases.

It also helped forensic labs process the data evidence and compare the DNA samples with those taken from criminals. It funded the SANE nurse program that taught them how to process and maintain the information and to go into court to help the police with convictions. The law also allows law enforcement greater leeway to indict John Doe or an unnamed individual using their DNA profile.

The Justice for All Act accomplished several critical objectives, including authorizing the necessary funding, $151 million in each fiscal year from 2005 through 2009, to process the backlog of DNA evidence through the creation of the State grant program.

Since 2004, millions of dollars in funding have been appropriated to States across our country to attack this backlog grant program. Each unprocessed kit represents an innocent life like Debbie Smith, and a rapist who may commit multiple rapes before he is caught.

The FBI has characterized rape as the worst crime, preceded only by murder in terms of the destruction to one's life. They have said that a rapist, a sick person, will attack seven times. So at least, if you process these kits, you can put people in jail and prevent innocent victims from having the horror in their lives that Debbie experienced.

The Debbie Smith Reauthorization Act extends the program through 2014 and also reauthorizes programs for training, education and sexual assault forensic exam grants.

DNA is remarkable evidence. It doesn't forget, it can't be confused, it is not intimidated, and it does not lie.

While an eyewitness can easily get mixed up about height, weight, hair color, DNA never changes its story.

Debbie's bravery and dedication and working with me and others to pass the Debbie Smith Act, which was a very difficult thing to accomplish, has already made a tremendous impact on our justice system.

I also want to acknowledge the RAINN program for its steadfast support of the Debbie Smith Reauthorization Act and for its efforts on behalf of sexual assault victims and survivors. Tragically, only 6 percent of rapists will ever spend any time in jail. Congress must continue to support programs like the Debbie Smith DNA Backlog Grant Program and help to put to rapists in prison, reduce the violence against women and solve other violent crimes.

I urge my colleagues to join me in important bipartisan, hopefully unanimous support for this reauthorization.

I thank the gentleman for yielding.

I am proud to have introduced this National Sexual Assault Awareness and Prevention Month resolution with my friend, Congresswoman Baldwin from Wisconsin. I appreciate her leadership in bringing this issue to the national attention of all of us.

When I was an assistant district attorney back in Texas, I prosecuted rapists for 8 years, and then I sat on the bench as a judge in Houston for 22 years, hearing felony criminal cases.

During those 30 years, I learned a lot about sexual assault and the devastation it has on victims.

Probably one of the best statements ever made about a sexual assault and how it affects the victim was a sexual assault victim who was 90 years old and had been raped. She testified on the witness stand that what happened to her ``was a fate worse than death.'' And, yes, many times it is a fate worse than murder itself, the crime that occurs against these individuals throughout our country. It devastates the victim, and after the crime occurs the victim faces a lifetime of battle to recover. In many cases, sexual assault or rape is an attempt on the part of the offender to destroy the inner soul and being of the victim, and sometimes that actually occurs.

When I came to Congress, I founded the Victims' Rights Caucus to advocate on behalf of victims so that this caucus could be a voice for all crime victims. The gentlewoman from Wisconsin who introduced this resolution is a member of this caucus and continues to be a leader in public awareness.

With this resolution, I hope we can educate the public about this horrendous crime, but also thank the outstanding victim advocates who hold the victim's hand from the time the crime is committed and sometimes throughout the entire episode until the trial is over with.

Rape and sexual assault statistics are difficult to determine because many victims are ashamed and afraid to come forward and report these crimes. There are outstanding support services in this country, like the National Sexual Assault Hotline, and many, many hundreds of thousands of crisis centers throughout the country, but still sexual assault victims are reluctant to come forward. By drawing attention to sexual violence and speaking about it on the national level here in our Congress, we can encourage victims to report these crimes and get the help they need.

Predators intimidate and threaten victims with the hope that these victims will never tell anyone about it. Victims need to understand that American citizens support victims and are on their side. Of those reported sexual assaults, there are haunting statistics. Three out of four victims knew the perpetrator that committed the crime against them. The rapist is not a stranger.

I would like to relate one case that occurred many years ago when I was prosecuting these types of cases. I will call this young lady Lisa, to protect the privacy of her family. She was a student at one of our universities in Houston. She left the university one night and stopped at a service station for help, because her car was having difficulty in moving down the highway.

She came in contact with an individual that I will call Luke. He was not a service station attendant. He was just a criminal. He kidnapped Lisa. He sexually assaulted her. He pistol-whipped her. He beat her so bad that he thought he had killed her, and when he was arrested, he was mad that he hadn't killed her. He was captured and he was tried. A jury in Houston, Texas, convicted him and gave him 99 years in the Texas penitentiary, which he earned and deserved.

But Lisa's life fell apart. She never went back to school. She lost her job. Her husband, the kind of individual he was, sued her for divorce, got all the children and left the State. She started using drugs, first alcohol and then everything else. Not long after the trial, I received a phone call from Lisa's mother telling me that she had taken her own life, and she left a note that I still have today that says, ``I am tired of running from Luke Johnson in my nightmares.''

You see, crime occurs. Victims are victimized. But sometimes they live a short life thereafter because of the crime that has occurred. And no crime is more devastating to a victim than sexual assault.

So it is important that we designate April as National Sexual Assault and Awareness Month so we can educate our fellow citizens on these statistics and encourage rape and sexual assault victims to no longer be afraid. We need to promote justice for sexual assault victims, because justice is what we do in America.

And that's just the way it is.