Volcanoes are erupting in The Philippines, but on-fire Australia received some welcome rain. The Iran war cries have been called off and The Donald’s military powers are about to be hamstrung by the Senate. Meanwhile, his impeachment trial is starting, and we’re all on Twitter for a front-row seat.
What Could Go Right? Justice, One Kit at a Time
The United States has slashed its rape kit backlog in half.
Emma Varvaloucas
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The gist:
- The backlog of untested rape kits in the United States used to number over 200,000, leaving many victims without justice and allowing rapists to commit multiple offenses without being caught.
- Since 2016, the backlog has been slashed in half, and every state except one has passed some kind of rape kit reform law. Thirteen states have cleared their backlog entirely.
Justice, One Kit at a Time
In September 2021, Alicia Franklin was raped at gunpoint in the Memphis apartment of a man she had met on a dating app. She went to the police immediately, who collected a rape kit, a procedure in which forensic evidence is gathered from the victim and then sent for DNA testing in an effort to find the perpetrator.
Despite the fact that Franklin had given the police her attacker’s name and social media information, no one was arrested, and her kit sat neglected.
In September 2022, Memphis school teacher Eliza Fletcher was abducted while out for a run, prompting a citywide manhunt. Three days later, on the same day that Fletcher’s body was found, Franklin’s rape kit was finally uploaded to a national DNA database. It turned out that Fletcher’s killer was also Franklin’s rapist: a man named Cleotha Abston, who could have been off the streets one year earlier if Franklin’s kit had been tested right after the crime occurred.
Leaving rape kits untested is not only an injustice to the victim of a sexual assault, but also a societal risk in that it gives rapists license to easily become repeat offenders. This status quo has been accepted, without much pushback, throughout the United States: between 2013 and 2019, the nationwide rape kit backlog reached at least 200,000, although some estimates are double that number. These backlogged kits can languish because the detectives on the case do not request a DNA analysis. Or the kits may be submitted for analysis, but then wait in line at a DNA lab for months or years.
Of course, this topic wouldn’t be in today’s newsletter if there weren’t progress, in this case substantial, to report. Many readers will know of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit star Mariska Hargitay, who plays Detective Olivia Benson on the show. She is also the founder of the Joyful Heart Foundation, a victims’ advocacy organization. Ending the national backlog of rape kits is its top priority.
While accurate data around rape kits is hard to come by, tallies from Joyful Heart show that the backlog has been slashed by more than half, with about 71,000 untested kits remaining. (That number is a rough estimate, however, and an undercount, since data is missing for eight states and incomplete for others.)
Thirteen states and Washington, DC have cleared their backlog entirely, with North Carolina and West Virginia reaching that milestone just last year. Now they must work to keep the backlog at bay. States like Utah, for instance, have eliminated their backlog in the past only to see numbers of untested kits creep up again.
Joyful Heart also campaigns to change policy at the state level. Their goal is to have all 50 states adopt what they call the six pillars of rape kit reform: conducting an annual inventory of untested kits (1), testing all backlogged and new kits (2 and 3), creating a statewide kit tracking system (4), establishing communication protocols so that a victim knows the status of their kit throughout the process of investigation (5), and funding to accomplish all of the above (6).
None of this existed before 2002, when the very first rape kit reform law was passed. In the 14 years between then and 2016, when Joyful Heart began their policy campaign, only one more state passed similar legislation.
Since 2016, however, there has been a sea change. Every state except Maine has passed reform connected to at least one of the pillars. Twenty-one states and Washington, D.C. have enacted all six; Pennsylvania was the latest to join that list, in 2024.
Policy-wise, Joyful Heart’s work continues along several fronts, as does its push for implementation, since legislation does not always equate to action. If you compare the first map above with the second, for instance, you will see there are gaps. Texas, for instance, has reached full legislative reform, but retains a backlog of thousands of kits.
Still, the difference made in under ten years is tremendous, and transformative for survivors.
As happened in Memphis with Alicia Franklin and Eliza Fletcher, in many places, testing the backlog has led to the identification of thousands of suspected serial rapists. In one survivor’s testimony on Joyful Heart’s website, a rape kit taken in 2001 but tested years later led to the conviction of a man who had beaten and raped another young woman for hours on Easter morning in 1991. The night that he was finally sentenced, in 2010, that woman went home, she says, “and slept better than I had in 19 years.”
What Could Go Right? S7 E1: The Return to Trumplandia
Welcome to Season 7! This week, Zachary Karabell and Emma Varvaloucas discuss the duality of news, focusing on the positive amidst the negative. They explore the impact of the Trump administration on American politics, the importance of understanding diverse voter perspectives, and the role of information in shaping political decisions. The conversation emphasizes the disconnect between government actions and daily life, advocating for a deeper engagement with local politics. They explore the dynamics of democracy, accountability, and the influence of the Trump administration, emphasizing the need for vigilance and active participation in governance. The discussion also touches on the global perspective of American politics, highlighting the resilience of international communities and the complexities of global interrelations. | Listen now
By the Numbers
37%: The drop in child marriages in Malaysia between 2019 and 2023.
24%: The decline in overdose deaths in the US between October 2023 and September 2024, which equates to a decrease of about 27,000 deaths. (Outlets, including this newsletter, first began reporting on this in the summer of 2024, and the data has only solidified since then.)
40%: The share of the world’s education systems that now ban or restrict smartphone use in schools.
Quick Hits
Planes are just falling out of the sky lately! It might surprise you to learn that there have been 52 air accidents in the US in January 2025—and 58 in January 2024, and 70 in January 2023. Be careful of equating media coverage with real-life risk, as the correlation often does not exist.
A European forecasting center has launched a new system that uses artificial intelligence to render its weather predictions about 20 percent more accurate than physics-based conventional methods. The raw data is also free and available to anyone.
What do the current and past seven Congresses have in common? Each, at the time, was the most racially and ethnically diverse on record. The US’ current Congress also includes the nation’s first openly transgender legislator at the federal level.
It’s nearly certain that Denmark will cut its emissions from 1990 levels by 50 percent this year, and potentially by 70 percent in 2030. The Danish Council on Climate Change is calling it a “success story in a world of gloomy climate news.”
Ireland is celebrating a bevy of good health statistics: a high average life expectancy compared to other countries in the European Union (EU), the highest rates of self-perceived good health in the EU, and rising numbers of doctors and nurses. And in England, the country’s lowest-income workers will soon be entitled to sick pay, starting from their first day of illness.
California was the first state to introduce paid family leave in 2004. Since then, 16 states have implemented it in some form, including Maine, Maryland, Minnesota, and Delaware, whose plans will go live in 2026.
A fetus diagnosed with spinal muscular atrophy—a congenital disease that has historically killed children before they turn two—has been treated for the first time while still in the uterus. So far, the baby has made it to two and a half years without any symptoms.
New research suggests that the shutdown of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation, a critical ocean current that is being weakened by climate change, is unlikely to occur this century, even under the most extreme climate scenarios.
Patients with sickle cell disease who are looking for a cure are currently limited to full-match bone marrow transplants—in which the donor has all of the same cell proteins as the recipient—or expensive gene therapies. New clinical trial results show that a “half match” transplant could also do the trick, widening the pool of potential donors.
What we’re watching: It’s not a ringing endorsement of vaccines, but it doesn’t slam them, either: US Health and Human Services Secretary and notorious vaccine skeptic Robert F. Kennedy Jr. addresses the current measles outbreak in an op-ed for Fox News. Meanwhile, parents of unvaccinated children in Texas are lining up to get them the shot.
TPN Member Originals
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Trump 2.0 and the law | NonZero | Robert Wright- There’s a whole world out there | The Edgy Optimist | Zachary Karabell
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- We can achieve great things | NYT ($) | David Brooks
- My mom’s guide to the art of living | The Atlantic ($) | Arthur C. Brooks
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- Why did US aid fail in Iraq? | The International Correspondent | Faisal Saeed Al Mutar