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Advocates of Survivors of Sexual Assault Applaud Passage of SAFE Act

Kentucky Office of the Attorney General via Facebook

Advocates of survivors of sexual assault are hailing passage of the SAFE Act during the current Kentucky legislative session. The Sexual Assault Forensic Exam measure addresses a backlog of more than 3,000 untested rape kits and calls for more training and data collection.

Gretchen Hunt is director of the Attorney General’s Office of Victim Advocacy. “So many rape cases are truly acts of serial rapists and the sooner we can identify those individuals and bring about justice, the more sexual assaults we can prevent in the future,” said Hunt.

Still left undecided in the budget is the status of more than $3 million to assist prosecutors in addressing backlogged rape cases.

Hunt says funding for testing rape kits and supplementing prosecution expenses can help in cost savings. She says the estimated overall cost of each sexual assault, including wages lost, plus court and medical expenses, is approximately $151,000. “When we factor in costs we also want to think about the cost savings, obviously to the life of the person who can avoid this trauma, but also the concrete costs, the ripple effect of each sexual assault upon Kentucky,” said Hunt.

Hunt says Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data show 47 percent of Kentucky women have experience some form of sexual violence. Attorney General Andy Beshear participated Thursday in a capitol event recognizing April as Sexual Assault Awareness Month.

Stu Johnson is a reporter/producer at WEKU in Lexington, Kentucky.
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