Read more about untested rape kits in Massachusetts.

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In Massachusetts, there are no laws that require law enforcement agencies to count, track or test rape kits.

That leaves the potential for DNA evidence -- which could lead to convictions or the identification of serial rapists -- sitting in a backlog.

Advocacy groups have been working nationwide to identify just how many rape kits are sitting untested on crime lab shelves and meeting with legislators to help pass laws that will ensure rape kits are tested promptly and tracked.

The Joyful Heart Foundation, one of those advocacy groups, has announced that it is eyeing Massachusetts for reform in 2018.

"We are committed to working with the Massachusetts state legislature to pursue appropriate legislative reforms--we must ensure that access to justice does not depend on a survivor's zip code, but is in fact mandated throughout their state," said Ilse Knecht, Joyful Heart's director of policy and advocacy.

Massachusetts is among states the Joyful Heart Foundation is targeting to pass comprehensive policies for any backlog of untested rape kits.

Joyful Heart estimates that there are hundreds of thousands of untested rape kits sitting in police and crime lab storage facilities across the country. The extent of any backlog in Massachusetts in unknown.

"Only when the extent of a jurisdiction's backlog is revealed, can real reform begin," Knecht said. "When law enforcement agencies account for the untested kits in their custody, communities can begin to take steps to test those kits, hold offenders accountable, and bring justice to sexual assault survivors whose cases have languished, often for years--or even decades."

In its goal of passing comprehensive rape kit reform legislation in all 50 states, the Joyful Heart Foundation has identified six pillars for reform: Audits or inventories; testing of all untested/backlogged rape kits; testing of all newly collected rape kits; victims' rights to notice and to be informed; tracking; and funding.

Massachusetts has not enacted any of the six pillars.

"Massachusetts law does not require law enforcement agencies to count, track or test rape kits," the Joyful Heart Foundation wrote in a news release. "The groundwork for reform has been set by advocates and lawmakers, and this year, lawmakers are moving forward with legislation that would implement five of the six pillars of reform."

In November, the Massachusetts House of Representatives approved a proposal to overhaul the state's policy for tracking and testing rape kits.

The system would allow victims of sexual assault to anonymously track their kits and help authorities determine the current location and status of all untested kits and would require rape kits to be kept for 50 years.

The state senate is hearing a bill that would develop and implement uniform protocol for transporting sexual assault evidence collection kits from hospitals to testing facilities.

A law signed in October 2016 by Gov. Charlie Baker extended the preservation of rape kits to 15 years, an increase from the previous limit of six months.

When MassLive asked roughly a dozen police departments -- including Boston, Worcester and Springfield -- how many untested rape kits were on department shelves last year, nine departments responded with zero kits. Some advocates found that number hard to believe.

The full extent of any potential backlog cannot be known because the state does not require all municipal police departments and state police to complete a full audit of their evidence rooms for untested kits.

Joyful Heart has created EndtheBacklog.org, which includes resources for survivors, legislators and law enforcement.