6200 La Calma Drive, Suite 110 | Austin, Texas | 78752 | 512.474.

7190
www.taasa.org
August 29, 2016
To:
Austin City Council Members
From: Annette Burrhus-Clay, Executive Director, TAASA
Chris Kaiser, Director of Public Policy & General Counsel, TAASA
Re:
Budget Amendments PS1.04 and PS1.07
The Texas Association Against Sexual Assault is the statewide organization committed to ending
sexual violence in Texas. TAASA also serves as the membership coalition of Texass 117 rape crisis
centers, including The SAFE Alliance (SAFE) in Austin. Every day TAASAs member programs stand
on the front lines to support and advocate for survivors of sexual assault, and they see the
devastating effects of this crime.
As Texass sexual assault coalition, TAASA also monitors efforts to eliminate rape kit backlogs
throughout the state. During the six years since the enactment of Subchapter B-1 of the Texas
Government Code, which requires law enforcement agencies to submit sexual assault evidence kits
(SAKs) to accredited crime labs within 30 days,1 several major cities in Texas have committed
resources to eliminating their backlogs. At the same time, the Legislature has appropriated funding
to the Texas Department of Public Safety Crime Lab to assist smaller and rural jurisdictions in
testing and outsourcing their SAKs.
Despite these positive measures, tens of thousands of SAKs remain untested throughout Texas.2
During the last six years, we have learned that meaningful reductions in SAK backlogs require
unequivocal commitment at the local level, including city budget allocations. We applaud the City of
Austins previous allocations to eliminate APDs backlog of SAKs dating earlier than 2012. However,
without a sustained commitment to test all new kits, the City will grapple with a continuous cycle of
new backlogs.
Thus, we urge City Council to adopt budget amendments PS1.04 and PS1.07, which, according to
APD, would adequately staff the APD crime lab and fund the outsourcing of 500 SAK analyses to
private forensic labs. These measures would convey to the publicincluding rape survivorsthat
the City of Austin is equipped to respond meaningfully to sexual assault. In turn, the City would
improve confidence in its criminal justice institutions, survivors would be more likely to engage
with arduous felony prosecutions, and more perpetrators would see justice.
Impacts on Survivors
An estimated 6.3 million people in Texasone third of all Texanshave experienced sexual assault
or abuse in their lifetimes.3 Rape is among the most brutal and traumatic experiences a person can
endure. It has lifetime repercussions. Survivors are at dramatically increased risk of serious
physical and mental health problems; acute anxiety; depression; self-harm and suicidal ideation;
PTSD; and loss of work, education, and social supports.4

Too often, however, the trauma of rape does not end with the violent act itself. When survivors
experience an institutional betrayal by those who are supposed to protect and support themlaw
enforcement, courts, universities, family memberstheir trauma is exacerbated, and their path to
health and recovery is impeded. For example, survivors frequently describe their experiences in the
criminal justice system as re-traumatizing, or feeling as though they have been raped all over
again. Research indicates such institutional betrayal results in worse health outcomes for
survivors than rape alone.5
Simply put, the failure to test a SAK after a survivor has submitted to a long, invasive forensic
medical examination is a slap in the face. Survivors go through forensic medical exams because they
are told that it will be worth it in the end. At the worst moment in their lives, when they have never
felt more vulnerable and powerless, they submit to photographs of their naked bodies,
examinations with invasive instruments, samples of their bodily fluids, and interviews about things
done to them that are impossible to think about. They submit to all of this because they trust that
they are serving a greater good. That trust, at a time of such violation, is unimaginably courageous.
Allowing one SAK to sit on a shelf without testing is a betrayal. But allowing hundreds of SAKs to sit
on shelves is a crisis of conscience.
Public Confidence
According to the Institute on Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault at the University of TexasAustin School of Social Work, 91% of sexual assaults in Texas are never reported to law
enforcement.6 The reasons rape survivors do not report are varied and complex, but among the
most common explanations offered by survivors is a perception that the criminal justice system
cannot or will not help.7
Abysmal prosecution rates8 and countless stories of poor treatment9 in the criminal justice system
tend to affirm survivors concerns about engaging with criminal legal processes. Likewise,
revelations that crucial forensic evidence may never even be tested confirm survivors worst
suspicions about the governments response to rape. Ultimately, the only winners are the
perpetrators whose violence is de facto decriminalized.
There is no silver bullet to restore public confidence in rape investigations and prosecutions.
However, prompt testing of all SAKs is a necessary first step. We cannot expect survivors to entrust
their health and livelihoods to criminal justice officials without a commensurate commitment by
the City to prioritize competent investigations in these life-shattering cases.
Public Safety
Promptly testing all SAKs would enable APD and the District Attorney to identify and prosecute
more rapists. Testing can identify previously unknown perpetrators, link several cases together to
illuminate trends in serial offending, confirm previously convicted defendants guilt, and has even
exonerated the innocent and put the right person behind bars.

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Last year, the City of Houston completed testing of 6,663 SAKs by outsourcing testing to two private
labs, resulting in 850 matches to DNA profiles already in the FBIs Combined DNA Index System
(CODIS) and 29 new sexual assault prosecutions. In 2003, the City of Fort Worth processed 960
SAKs, resulting in more than 200 CODIS matches and 36 sexual assault convictions. Among those
SAKs submitted to the DPS Crime Lab, 140 kits have produced CODIS matches.10 Jurisdictions
throughout the country that have prioritized comprehensive SAK testing have seen comparable
public safety benefits.11
Moreover, we know that most rapes are committed by a relatively small number of repeat
offenders.12 That means each new prosecution likely has a more expansive public safety benefit
than is immediately apparent. When we identify and prosecute a rapistwhether a stranger in the
bushes or a college student armed with alcoholwe not only serve justice for the survivor in that
particular case, but we very likely also prevent future rapes by the same offender.
Finally, in addition to enabling prosecution of cold cases, eliminating the SAK backlog and promptly
testing all future kits will foster greater public confidence, as described above, and encourage more
reporting. In turn, offenders in Austin will face greater accountability for their crimes.
Conclusion
The wide-ranging benefits of comprehensive SAK testing will not be realized overnight. It will
require a sustained, long-term commitment from the City and our criminal justice officials. But City
Council can begin that commitment now by ensuring adequate staffing for the APD crime lab and
leveraging private labs to alleviate Austins current SAK backlog.
On behalf of sexual assault survivors in Austin, and in partnership with the advocates who assist
them every day, we ask that City Council adopt budget amendments PS1.04 and PS1.07.
Respectfully,

Annette Burrhus-Clay
Executive Director

Chris Kaiser
Director of Public Policy & General Counsel

Citations
TEX. GOV. CODE 420.042.
Testimony of Skylor D. Hearn, Assistant Director, Texas Department of Public Safety, Subcommittee on the
Constitution, United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary (May 20, 2015) (accessed August 26, 2016 at
https://www.judiciary.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/05-20-15%20Hearn%20Testimony.pdf).
3 Busch-Armendariz, N., et al., U. of Texas Inst. on Domestic Violence & Sexual Assault, Health and Well-Being:
Texas Statewide Sexual Assault Prevalence 31 (2015)(accessed August 26, 2016 at
https://utexas.app.box.com/s/tklreu3gq0up754b599rr37bbf7jefdk).
1
2

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See generally Crime Victims Research & Treatment Ctr., Rape in America: A Report to the Nation 7-8 (1992);
Judith L. Herman, Trauma and Recovery 57-58 (1992); Lenore E.A. Walker, Abused Women and Survivor
Therapy 23-53 (1994); Lyn Hechy Schafran, Writing and Reading About Rape: A Primer, 66 St. Johns L. Rev.
979, 1017-26 (1993); Lynn Hecht Schafran, Maiming the Soul: Judges, Sentencing, and the Myth of the
Nonviolent Rapist, 20 Fordham Urb. L.J. 439, 443047 (1993).
5 Parnitzke Smith, C. and Freyd, J., Institutional Betrayal, American Psychologist 575 (September 2014).
6 Busch-Armendariz, supra note 3.
7 Langton, L., et al, Victimizations Not Reported to the Police, 2006-2010, National Crime Victimization
Survey Special Report, U.S. Dept. of Justice Bureau of Justice Statistics. August 2012. See also Texas Dept of
Pub. Safety, 2013 Crime in Texas 16, (accessed August 26, 2016 at
http://dps.texas.gov/crimereports/13/citCh3.pdf)(Forcible rape differs from other violent crimes because,
in many cases, the victim is hesitant to report the offense to police. The rigors of court procedures,
embarrassment and fear of any accompanying stigma exert a deterrent effect upon the victims willingness to
contact the police.)
8 See U.S. Dept. of Justice Bureau of Justice Statistics, Natl Crime Victimization Survey, 2010-2014 (2015); Fed.
Bureau of Investigation, Natl Incident-Based Reporting System, 2012-2014 (2015); Dept. of Justice Bureau of
Justice Statistics, Felony Defendants in Large Urban Counties, 2009 (2013).
9 See, e.g., Dominique Sachse, Rape victim put in jail after breakdown on witness stand, KPRC Houston (July
19, 2016)(accessed August 26, 2016 at http://www.click2houston.com/news/rape-victim-put-in-jail-afterbreakdown-on-witness-stand); M. Alex Johnson, Montana judge defends decision to sentence teacher to just
30 days for sex with 14-year-old, NBC News (August 29, 2013)(accessed August 26, 2016 at
http://www.nbcnews.com/news/other/montana-judge-defends-decision-sentence-teacher-just-30-dayssex-f8C11028610); Elliott C. McLaughlin, Sara Sidner, and Michael Martinez, Oklahoma City cop convicted of
rape sentenced to 263 years in prison, CNN (January 22, 2016)(accessed august 26, 2016 at
http://www.cnn.com/2016/01/21/us/oklahoma-city-officer-daniel-holtzclaw-rape-sentencing/).
10 Testimony of Skylor D. Hearn, supra note 2.
11 See, e.g., Rachel Dissell, Cuyahoga County leads the nation in its rape kit response with 500th indicted
man. Cleveland Plain Dealer, June 29, 2016 (accessed August 26, 2016 at http://www.cleveland.com/rapekits/index.ssf/2016/06/cuyahoga_county_leads_the_nation_in_its_rape_kit_response_with_500th_indicted_m
an.html).
12 Lisak, D. and Miller, P., Repeat Rape and Multiple Offending Among Undetected Rapists, Violence and
Victims, Vol. 17, No. 1, 73 (2002).
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