{"id":306792,"date":"2026-10-14T22:50:10","date_gmt":"2026-10-14T22:50:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/306792\/"},"modified":"2026-10-14T22:50:10","modified_gmt":"2026-10-14T22:50:10","slug":"pennsylvania-pilots-sexual-assault-kit-tracking-system-for-survivors-ahead-of-statewide-rollout","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/306792\/","title":{"rendered":"Pennsylvania pilots sexual assault kit tracking system for survivors ahead of statewide rollout"},"content":{"rendered":"

Pennsylvania is testing a new online tool<\/a> that lets sexual assault survivors track the status of forensic evidence kits, giving them more visibility into the process while helping hospitals, law enforcement agencies and laboratories better keep tabs on evidence.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency began piloting Track-Kit in August, working with 12 local hospitals, 64 local law enforcement agencies, forensic nurses, and labs across Erie, Lancaster and York counties to streamline the sexual assault kit testing process. The state plans to expand the system statewide by the end of 2026, officials said in an interview with StateScoop.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe idea is just to be able to track the kit throughout its life cycle,\u201d Jamie Long, PCCD\u2019s SAKI coordinator, said about the initiative.<\/p>\n

The tracking system was established under 2024 legislation<\/a>, following advocacy from the Pennsylvania Coalition to Advance Respect, the state\u2019s sexual assault coalition, to launch an evidence-tracking system and build a more accountable process for survivors. In 2025, the commission secured a $2.5 million federal grant<\/a> to support system design, implementation, and training through PCAR for hospitals, law enforcement agencies, forensic laboratories, and victim service professionals statewide.<\/p>\n

Kathleen Buckley, director of PCCD\u2019s Office of Victims\u2019 Services, said Pennsylvania chose Track-Kit, a system already used by 17 other states, because it met the law\u2019s requirements, including automated survivor notification.<\/p>\n

\u201cTrack Kit is the only system that does the automated notifications, so that was really important,\u201d Buckley explained. \u201cIt [also] needed to have a 24-hour helpline for those using the system \u2014 whether it\u2019s law enforcement, medical labs, survivors to help out with accessing the system.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the immediate aftermath of a sexual assault, survivors often undergo a forensic examination to collect evidence of the assault, which can then be submitted to a crime lab for testing. A kit includes swabs for biological evidence, small sticks for fingernail scrapings, containers to store samples, and bags for collected clothing and physical evidence.<\/p>\n

As part of the pilot, hospitals record when kits are collected and whether survivors consent to testing. Law enforcement agencies log the date and time when they pick up the kits from the hospitals and laboratories, while labs record when kits arrive and testing is complete.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Privacy protections are built into the platform. Survivors\u2019 names and other personally identifiable information are not entered into the system. Each kit is associated with a barcode that survivors and participating organizations use to access its status.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe system was built with that in mind,\u201d Buckley said, describing the effort to keep survivor information confidential.<\/p>\n

Long, which trained medical and law enforcement personnel on how to use the tool, said the system does not track criminal investigations or court proceedings. Instead it focuses strictly on the kit\u2019s location and testing status. Survivors can opt in to notifications when their kit\u2019s status changes, or check the portal when they choose. They can also decide not to use it. Either way, she said, logging onto the portal can help give survivors a greater sense of control after an experience that may leave them feeling powerless.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIt gives survivors autonomy in a situation where they otherwise might feel hopeless or helpless,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

The new tracking system could also help state officials identify delays and improve accountability by showing how long kits remain at each stage.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Pennsylvania\u2019s Sexual Assault Testing and Evidence Collection Act<\/a> requires local law enforcement agencies to report the number of backlogged sexual assault kits in their inventory awaiting testing. Under the law, health care facilities must notify local law enforcement or the Pennsylvania State Police within 12 hours of collecting sexual assault evidence, and has 72 hours to secure possession of the evidence. Within 15 days of receiving consent from the survivor or advocate, the agency must submit the evidence to an approved laboratory, which has six months to complete testing.<\/p>\n

According to a 2025 report<\/a> by the Pennsylvania Department of Health, law enforcement agencies reported 233 backlogged sexual assault kits awaiting testing, down from over 3,000 total untested kits and 1,852 backlogged kits in 2015.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The state is also conducting a separate inventory of unsubmitted and partially-tested kits, an effort expected to continue into early 2028. Buckley said she expects Track-Kit to provide more detailed data on backlogs over time.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s really been seen as a very positive and victim-centered type of system that makes people accountable [and] make sure the kit is moving through the process as intended and required by law,\u201d she said. \u201cWe\u2019re going to be able to provide much more data through Track-Kit about that as well in the future.\u201d<\/p>\n

Other states have taken similar steps to empower survivors and provide greater transparency after sexual assault. California<\/a> launched an online sexual assault kit tracker in 2022 tied to its statewide evidence database. The National Association of State Chief Information Officers awarded Washington<\/a> for its online tracking system in 2019.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\"Sophia<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tWritten by Sophia Fox-Sowell
\n\t\t\tSophia Fox-Sowell reports on artificial intelligence, cybersecurity and government regulation for StateScoop. She was previously a multimedia producer for CNET, where her coverage focused on private sector innovation in food production, climate change and space through podcasts and video content. She earned her bachelor\u2019s in anthropology at Wagner College and master\u2019s in media innovation from Northeastern University.\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Pennsylvania is testing a new online tool that lets sexual assault survivors track the status of forensic evidence…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":306793,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[3231,6111,1856,28,30,29,125790,125791,19962,268],"class_list":["post-306792","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-pennsylvania","tag-evidence","tag-hospital","tag-law-enforcement","tag-pennsylvania","tag-pennsylvania-headlines","tag-pennsylvania-news","tag-portal","tag-sexual-assault-tracking-kit","tag-state-local-news","tag-survivors"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/306792","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=306792"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/306792\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/306793"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=306792"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=306792"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=306792"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}