MCASA Opens MD SAKI Information Lines for Sexual Assault Survivors (October 26, 2020)
What is the National Sexual Assault Kit Initiative?
The National Sexual Assault Kit Initiative is a federal grant program administered by the U.S. Department of Justice's Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) that provides funding to support multidisciplinary community response teams to inventory, track, and expeditiously test previously unsubmitted sexual assault kits; produce necessary protocols and policies to improve collaboration among laboratories, police, prosecutors, and victim service providers; provide resources to address the sexual assault investigations and prosecutions that result from evidence and CODIS hits produced by tested sexual assault kits and optimize victim notification protocols and services.
What is an unsubmitted sexual assault evidence kit?
An unsubmitted sexual assault evidence kit is a sexual assault evidence kit that has not been submitted to a forensic laboratory for testing and analysis using CODIS-eligible DNA methodologies.
What is a MD SAKI grant kit?
A MD SAKI grant kit is a kit that was collected on or before April 30, 2018, that has not been submitted to a forensic laboratory for testing.
How can I find out if my sexual assault evidence kit is a part of the “backlog" of unsubmitted MD SAKI SAEKs?
If you had a sexual assault evidence kit collected on or before April 30, 2018, your kit may be one of the unsubmitted SAEKs included within the MD SAKI grant. Sexual assault victims should contact the Maryland Coalition Against Sexual Assault at 833-364-0046 or email notification@mcasa.org to determine if their kit is a MD SAKI grant kit.
Where can I find resources to help me?
Click here to see a list of community sexual assault programs in the state.
This project was supported by Grant No. 2018-AK-BX-0033 awarded by the Bureau of Justice Assistance. The Bureau of Justice Assistance is a component of the Department of Justice's Office of Justice Programs, which also includes the Bureau of Justice Statistics, the National Institute of Justice, the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, the Office for Victims of Crime, and the SMART Office. Points of view or opinions in this document are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice.