In pursuit of justice: lawmakers are working with sexual assault survivors to fix a criminal justice system they say is broken.

• Author: Williams, Rich
• Position: CRIMINAL JUSTICE

Amanda Nguyen survived a sexual assault. But, like many survivors, she found pursuing justice just as traumatic as the crime itself.

"Most Americans do not understand how broken the justice system is for rape survivors," she explains.

For Nguyen, a Harvard graduate who aspires to be an astronaut, her struggle was preserving the evidence in her rape kit. In Massachusetts, where she was assaulted in 2013, kits could be disposed of after six months if the survivor did not file charges or contact officials for an extension.

"In a system where I had to protect that evidence every six months, even though the statute of limitations is 15 years, I was being forced to live my life by the date of my rape."

As Nguyen persevered, she met other survivors who had experienced similar hardships throughout the justice process.

"I found my story wasn't just my own. So many people are going through this."

Nguyen went on to found Rise, an all-volunteer nonprofit that advocates for assault survivors. Massachusetts Representative Tricia Farley-Bouvier (D), a legislative champion for sexual assault reform, worked with Rise last year to enact legislation that better preserves rape kit evidence.

"Now the kits of survivors who are not yet ready to notify law enforcement will be kept for the full statute of limitations." And while this law will prevent Amanda's ordeal from happening again, Farley-Bouvier knows other challenges with the state response to rape still persist. "This law is a good start, but there is much more work to be done."

Rise continued to work for assault survivors and was the force behind the federal Survivors' Bill of Rights. The law, which Congress passed unanimously last October, guarantees basic rights for assault survivors in federal cases, which includes sex crimes that occur across state lines, in the military, in a federal prison, or on land operated by the federal government or tribal nations.

Now Nguyen wants to see those rights protected in every state. "Rise focused on the federal bill because hope is contagious. I hope it's a model that states can pick up," she says.

Survivors Play Big Role

Nineteen states and the District of Columbia enacted laws to bolster their response to sex crimes last year. Survivors' voices continue to be crucial in developing policies because their experiences reveal flaws in current practices.

In New York, Senator Kemp Hannon (R) and Assemblywoman Aravella Simotas (D) sponsored a bill to set standardized procedures for the timely testing and transfer of sexual assault evidence among medical professionals, law enforcement, forensic analysts and DNA database administrators.

"Rape victims muster the courage to report a rape and then go through an intrusive physical exam to collect evidence," Hannon says. "That evidence must be processed in a timely manner. This law...