Debbie Smith Reauthorization Act of 2014

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 4323) to reauthorize programs authorized under the Debbie Smith Act of 2004, and for other purposes.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous materials on H.R. 4323, currently under consideration.

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

In 1989, Debbie Smith was kidnapped from her Williamsburg, Virginia, home while her husband, a police officer, was sleeping upstairs. Her assailant dragged her into the woods behind her home and raped her.

Despite being threatened with further harm, she bravely came forward, reported the assault, and consented to a forensic exam with hopes that her attacker would be quickly identified and apprehended. Unfortunately, this did not happen.

In the years following the sexual assault, Debbie Smith, stricken with thoughts of suicide, struggled with the paralyzing fear that her unknown attacker would return to inflict harm on her and her family. The traumatic effect remained with Debbie and her family for over 6 years until an offender was identified and convicted using DNA analysis.

I am pleased to sponsor H.R. 4323, the Debbie Smith Reauthorization Act of 2014, to ensure victims of rape, sexual assault, and other violent crimes do not have to endure similar experiences to Debbie Smith in the future. I would like to acknowledge the bipartisan support received from the numerous cosponsors of this important legislation, including lead cosponsor Congresswoman Bass of California and original cosponsors Ranking Member Conyers, Crime Subcommittee Chairman Sensenbrenner, and Ranking Member Scott. I also would like to recognize the efforts of my colleague from New York, Carolyn Maloney, in cosponsoring this bill reauthorizing the program she helped create in 2004. Finally, the gentleman from Texas, Judge Ted Poe, has also been a strong leader in this area for many years, and we are all very appreciative of his efforts.

With the goal of eliminating the backlog of untested DNA samples, the Debbie Smith program awards grants to State and local governments to fund the collection of samples from offenders and crime scenes, including rape kits, increased laboratory capacity, and the analysis of DNA samples in a timely and appropriate manner.

Additionally, grants are authorized to provide training, technical assistance, and education to law enforcement officials, court officers, corrections personnel, and forensic science and medical professionals.

The effectiveness of DNA evidence in criminal investigations and prosecutions is unquestioned. As of January 2014, the use of the FBI's National DNA Index has provided important assistance in more than 224,000 investigations. In my home State of Virginia, the database contains more than 366,000 offender profiles and has aided in nearly 8,500 criminal investigations.

Due to a number of factors, including the expansion in recent years of the number of States requiring arrestees to submit DNA samples, the demand for the testing of these samples continues to outpace the capacity of State and local government laboratories.

In 2011, laboratories processed 10 percent more DNA cases than in 2009. However, backlogs persisted as demand grew by 16 percent during the same period, illustrating the need for the continued support of this vital program.

I urge my colleagues to support this important legislation, reauthorizing the Debbie Smith program, to continue the reduction of DNA backlogs nationwide.

I thank Debbie Smith for her contribution to this effort and for her courage in standing up for millions of others.

I reserve the balance of my time.

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

I continue to reserve the balance of my time.

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

I recognize the many people who have worked very hard to bring us to the reauthorization today of this important legislation.

I particularly want to thank Congresswoman Maloney for her leadership from the original legislation to today. Congresswoman Karen Bass of California unfortunately could not be with us for this debate this evening, but she has played a role as the lead cosponsor of this legislation. I thank the ranking member of the full committee and the ranking member of the Crime Subcommittee, Mr. Conyers and Mr. Scott, for their hard work on this as well.

I certainly thank the chairman of the Crime Subcommittee, Mr. Sensenbrenner, for his contribution, as well at the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Poe) for his work in this area on this and other legislation affecting crimes against women.

Mr. Speaker, this is important legislation that will help avoid many, many future victims. I really thank Debbie Smith and Natasha Alexenko for being with us when we talked about this issue this afternoon. I want to thank them for their courage in speaking out about it. They are not only helping to have a better understanding on the part of the public of the nature of this problem, but they are actually helping to fight crime.

This Congress will be helping to fight crime when we get these perpetrators of these horrific events much, much more quickly than these multiyear delays that we have heard about tonight. We need to get them quickly. We need to prosecute the guilty. We need to exonerate the innocent and put the guilty ones in prison, where they cannot perpetrate more of these crimes. Some of them are out on the streets for additional years perpetrating multitudinous crimes. This is a serious problem. It will save the taxpayers money by reducing the amount of crime that is perpetrated in our society.

I urge my colleagues to support this important legislation, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Let me thank the ranking member of the Subcommittee on Crime, the chairman and ranking member of the full committee, and Mrs. Maloney for their leadership.

I was on the Crime Subcommittee as this bill was introduced. I was eager to see it work its will in that early timeframe in the backdrop of the courage of Debbie Smith. I also recognize Natasha Alexenko, who I understand is a constituent of Mr. Scott. Those were the early days in 2001 when we were finding out all over the Nation that rape kits were actually lost. My city was no different.

This is an important reauthorization because of the grant programs that are provided. In particular, the Debbie Smith Reauthorization Act authorizes $151 million in grants for State and local DNA labs to address DNA backlogs. As I indicated, in my own hometown, we were faced with backlogs and lost kits as well.

The DNA training and technical assistance is extremely important, helping law enforcement, courts, and forensic scientists. For DNA training and technical assistance, $30 million is directed to Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner programs.

There is nothing more lonely than to be raped and then, on top of it, not see your case pursued.

I want to thank the Houston Area Women's Center, which involves itself in sexual violence against women, as well as Kathryn Griffin, who has worked with prostitutes and others who have actually been raped.

In Houston, decades-old rape kits that sat untested have identified at least one-third of potential offenders in cases where there was sufficient DNA, according to the Houston Police Department. And I congratulate the city of Houston. Combined with dollars from the Debbie Smith Reauthorization and the city's own investment, we now have a new DNA lab that is open and ready for business to ensure that the victims of crime and sexual assault are not left along the highway of despair. In my district alone, 6,600 rape kits have been cleared as of August 2013. That is an important step forward.

I also look forward to continuing to work on issues dealing with DNA of those who involve themselves in human trafficking in a national database.

I also want to give another reason why this is extremely important. As I left Houston, in my own congressional district, we found that, unfortunately, the State of Texas decided to put 23 violent sexual offenders in a neighborhood in what is called a halfway house. Those individuals are at the back side of their incarceration. Mr. Speaker, I would say that it is a dangerous set of circumstances when these individuals will be among children and women and be without the necessary security in a neighborhood.

And so this DNA for rape kits is one aspect of the need that is being addressed in helping women, again, not feel lonely and left without refuge and the ability to access justice.

I support H.R. 4323. I ask my colleagues to support it, and remember there is a larger and broader picture we must look at in order to address the violence against women.

Mr. Speaker, as a senior member of both the Judiciary Committee and a co-sponsor, I

rise in strong support of H.R. 4323, the ``Debbie Smith Reauthorization Act of 2014,'' which reauthorizes three grant programs to address DNA backlogs and provide DNA training and technical assistance on local, state, and federal levels.

It is essential that these programs be reauthorized so that the backlog of unprocessed rape kits can be reduced and then eliminated and perpetrators of sexual assault crimes can be prosecuted and convicted.

There is an ever-present need to continue robust funding for programs such as the Debbie Smith DNA Backlog Grant Program in order to make sure victims do not fall through the cracks of the system.

Women who have been raped have a right to expect police to thoroughly investigate the case and prosecute the offenders; however, many rape kits across the country are never even tested, and the perpetrators never face justice.

Mr. Speaker, the number of backlogged DNA samples was in excess of 100,000 nationwide as recently as January 2010.

H.R. 4323 reauthorizes for four years (until the end of fiscal year 2019) the following programs:

1. ``Debbie Smith Reauthorization'' ($151 million/fiscal year): grants for state and local DNA crime laboratories to address DNA backlogs and enhance their capacity.

2. DNA training and technical assistance ($12.5 million/fiscal year): directed to law enforcement, courts, forensic scientists, and corrections.

3. DNA training and technical assistance ($30 million/fiscal year): directed to sexual assault nurse examiner (``SANE'') programs.

In my congressional district, these grant programs have resulted in forensic laboratories being hired to clear much of the Houston Police Department's backlog of untested DNA benefit from this type of legislation.

Just within the past year, decades-old rape kits that sat untested in Houston have identified at least one-third of potential offenders in cases where there was sufficient DNA, according to the Houston Police Department.

In my district more than 6,600 rape kits have been cleared as of August 2013 because of the funding made possible by the grant programs that H.R. 4323 will reauthorize. This record of success highlights the importance and continuing need to provide adequate funding so law enforcement agencies can conduct necessary DNA testing and training.

Mr. Speaker, the DNA Initiative is an invaluable tool for law enforcement today, and it will continue to be a legislative priority of mine. That is why I am pleased to co-sponsor H.R. 4323 and urge my colleagues to join me in voting to approve this critically important legislation.

Thank you, and I thank all of my colleagues for this important bipartisan legislation.

Mr. Speaker, there is no more important thing a government can do than protect its citizens from violent crime, and today's reauthorization of the Debbie Smith Act, until 2019, does just that. It will protect women, and it will save lives.

The Debbie Smith Act has been called the most important antirape legislation ever to have passed this Congress. During Sexual Assault Awareness Month, April, we are presented with the grim statistics that every 2 minutes, someone is sexually assaulted in our country.

This bill was first introduced in 2001, after a hearing Steve Horn and I organized on the use of DNA to convict and exonerate. Since first being signed into law in 2004, the Debbie Smith Act funds have provided State and local governments with the tools to eliminate the backlog that exists around this country.

It is estimated the backlog is of roughly 400,000 kits that are sitting in warehouses and police departments, and each one of these kits is representing a life of a woman who has been raped.

It not only represents a peace of mind for her to know that her rapist will be convicted and put behind bars, but it will prevent future rapes because the FBI tells us that most rapists will attack another seven times; so, if we can convict, we can save seven other lives.

I want to recognize two extremely brave women who are speaking out on this issue and have testified before Congress. It is very difficult to do. I have tried to get people to testify. The only person I could get to testify was my good friend, Debbie Smith, who inspired me and others after her wonderful testimony in 2001. She is also joined by Natasha Alexenko, founder of Natasha's Justice Project, working to completely eliminate the backlog. Natasha's and Debbie's stories tell the need of this legislation.

My friend, Congressman Scott, spoke about his constituent, Debbie. Natasha was raped, and it took 15 years for them to process her kit. During that 15 years, her rapist raped other women, was involved in sex trafficking, selling drugs, and a slew of other crimes across this country. When her kit was processed, he was put behind bars. If they had processed it earlier, it would have prevented all of this other damage to women and to society as a whole.

One of the tragic costs of this type of crime is that those who survive a sexual assault carry wounds that are not readily visible. They are 3 times more likely to suffer from depression, 13 times more likely to abuse alcohol, 26 times more likely to abuse drugs, and 4 times more likely to contemplate suicide. Each rape kit that gets tested brings these survivors closer to justice and prevents future rapes.

Since I introduced the first version of this legislation in 2001, it has always received wide bipartisan support. I thank Chairman Goodlatte, Ranking Member Conyers, members of the Judiciary Committee, Mr. Poe, Ms. Bass, Mr. Nadler, Mr. Scott, and former Congressman Mark Green for all of their hard work.

I hope that this bill will quickly pass the Senate and become law. This is one of those rare bills that virtually guarantees that it will put real criminals behind bars and protect people more effectively from one of the most traumatic assaults imaginable: rape. The grants provided to States and local governments will allow them to significantly reduce or eliminate their backlogs.

By using a national DNA database, it helps them identify criminals.

The bill that Mr. Poe and I passed earlier this year, the SAFER Act, will direct that 75 percent of this money go directly for the backlog. It is roughly $113 million. It is important. It is a moral imperative to eliminate the rape backlog so that women will not be victimized simply because their government failed to act and failed to process this important evidence.

This is an important day. I urge my colleagues to unanimously pass this bill and move it to the Senate and unanimously pass it there.

I thank the gentleman for yielding.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in strong support of H.R. 4323, the Debbie Smith Act.

Every 2 minutes in this country, someone is sexually assaulted. That means, by the time I finish my remarks today, at least one man, woman, or child will have been brutally attacked.

By the end of this year, more than 200,000 people--nearly all of them women and girls--will have been victimized in the most inhuman way. Only 60 percent of victims will ever report their attacks, and barely 3 percent of attackers will ever serve a day in prison.

These statistics are staggering, and we are not doing all we can to ensure that every victim has access to the justice he deserves. Too often, victims who are willing to report their attacks face invasive examinations, which leave them feeling victimized all over again.

They then wait, often living in fear and with no information from law enforcement, while their rape kits collect dust in evidence lockers or sit on lab shelves. Every untested rape kit is a lost opportunity to provide justice and to catch dangerous criminals.

To see the importance of rape kit testing, look no further than New York City. In 1999, the city enacted a policy to test every rape kit and to eliminate its backlog of over 17,000 kits, and 15 years later, that policy has made a world of difference.

Every kit collected in New York is tested within 30 to 60 days, and the arrest rate for rape has skyrocketed from 40 percent to 70 percent. Compare that to the national rate of 24 percent. Clearly, the more rape kits we test, the more rapists we get off the streets.

Imagine what would happen if we tested all of the 400,000 rape kits that are still sitting on the shelves today around the country.

I have fought to end the rape kit backlog for nearly 15 years. In 2000, I supported the passage of the DNA Analysis Backlog Elimination Act, which provided $40 million to help States analyze DNA evidence.

When the rape kit backlog failed to decrease by 2002, I introduced the Rape Kit DNA Analysis Backlog Elimination Act, which would have authorized $250 million to help police departments finance rape kit testing.

In 2004, I cosponsored and worked closely with Mr. Sensenbrenner and others to enact the Justice for All Act that created the Debbie Smith DNA Backlog Grant Program, which authorized hundreds of millions of dollars for DNA testing and strengthened the ability of State and local law enforcement to test rape kits.

While I am pleased that we will reauthorize the Debbie Smith Grant Program today, I am disappointed that we are not considering a complete reauthorization of the Justice for All Act, including the Kirk Bloodsworth Post-Conviction DNA Testing Grant programs.

DNA evidence is vital to providing justice for all people by putting violent criminals behind bars and by exonerating wrongfully convicted individuals. We should not allow a vital program to lapse because it is less politically expedient.

It is my hope that we can work together to pass a complete reauthorization of the Justice for All Act as our colleagues in the Senate claim to do shortly. In the 10 years since the creation of the Debbie Smith DNA Backlog Grant Program, we have seen much progress, but the backlog continues to be a major problem, and prosecuting is uneven across the country.

I commend the chairman of the committee and the ranking member and all

of the other Members who have worked on this bill. I urge my colleagues to support the bill and to work towards a day when no rape kit goes untested and every victim of sexual assault sees justice.

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

I rise in support of H.R. 4323, the Debbie Smith Act, which was originally enacted in 2004. During Sexual Assault Awareness Month, we have the opportunity to take an important step in continuing a program that helps address the problem of sexual assault.

The Debbie Smith Act has helped State and local law enforcement reduce the Nation's large backlog of untested DNA samples. Grants are used to hire personnel and to purchase supplies for processing samples and for including them in the Combined DNA Index System.

Grants have also been directed to DNA training and technical assistance for law enforcement and courts and to sexual assault nurse examiner programs. Crime laboratories have almost unanimously reported that the DNA Backlog Grant Program is essential to their capacity to process samples, but the backlog still remains.

Hundreds of thousands of DNA samples, each representing an unsolved crime, remains untested. Regrettably, over 200 untested samples remain in Los Angeles alone that have outlasted the statute of limitations for prosecuting cases, so we have to do everything we can to process these samples.

We must also do everything we can to strengthen the nationwide database and reduce the DNA backlog, so that cases of sexual assault can be solved and prosecuted without delay. Reauthorizing the Debbie Smith Act will bring perpetrators of sexual assault to justice before they can attack more victims.

I am proud to acknowledge that Debbie Smith is a constituent of mine. She lives in Charles City County, Virginia. She waited more than 6 years for the DNA from her rape kit to be processed and checked against the national database in order to identify her attacker.

Her attacker was identified, but unfortunately, during those 6 years, he attacked at least two other women--crimes that would not have happened if his DNA had been tested in a more timely manner.

Debbie has spent her time and effort over the last few years with her organization, HEART, which stands for Hope Exists After Rape Trauma. She has been advocating for a reduction in the DNA backlog and has been offering assistance to victims of sexual assault.

I commend my colleague from Virginia (Mr. Goodlatte), the chairman of the Judiciary Committee, and the ranking member, Mr. Conyers, for working together to expedite the consideration of this bill.

I also want to acknowledge the original author of the Debbie Smith Act, the gentlelady from New York (Mrs. Carolyn B. Maloney), for her hard work and continued advocacy on behalf of sexual assault victims.

I urge my colleagues to join me in further honoring the work of Debbie Smith's by voting for this bill--to reauthorize the bill that bears her name.

I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Conyers), the ranking member of the full committee.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from New York (Mr. Nadler), who has been working hard on this issue for a number of years.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 4 minutes to the gentlelady from New York (Mrs. Carolyn B. Maloney), the author of the original legislation.

Mr. Speaker, I yield the gentlelady an additional 30 seconds.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentlelady from Texas (Ms. Jackson Lee), a distinguished member of the Judiciary Committee.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time to encourage my colleagues to support the reauthorization of the Debbie Smith Act. I thank my colleague from Virginia for his support.

I yield back the balance of my time.