Funding takes aim at Maine’s backlog of untested rape kits [Video]

Cumberland County District Attorney Jacqueline Sartoris remembers reading a magazine story in 2019 that opened her eyes to how little the criminal justice system has improved when it comes to sexual assault investigations.

Many sexual assaults, she learned, were not aggressively investigated. And many rape kits – the term for an exam that involves gathering DNA evidence from women who say they were raped – were not even being tested.

“It made me realize how far behind we were in getting justice,” Sartoris said in an interview, referring to a piece in the Atlantic.

She vowed then to do something about it.

It took a bit longer than she expected.

Last week, Sartoris announced that her agency was awarded a three-year U.S. Department of Justice grant totaling $2.5 million that will help inventory and track all sexual assault kits currently held in the county, test all appropriate kits in line with national standards, and then fully investigate and prosecute eligible cases.

It’s the …