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SAKI awarded the Fourth Judicial Circuit Florida State Attorney's Office a grant in the amount of $1.9 million in FY2015 to assist their SAKI efforts in Duval, Clay, and Nassau counties. Grant funds were used for the Cold Case Sexual Assault Unit to process previously unsubmitted sexual assault kits (SAKs) and to investigate and prosecute cases. When the State Attorney's Office applied for the grant, there were 1,982 unsubmitted SAKs. Since that time, the City of Jacksonville SAKI Working Group has made many extraordinary achievements, including the following:
The Fourth Judicial Circuit Florida State Attorney's Office was awarded two additional grants totaling nearly $2.4 million in FY2018. This funding has been used to identify and test secondary evidence associated with SAKI cases; complete a lawfully owed DNA census within the circuit; continue investigation and prosecution of cases; and create a trauma-informed, victim-centered approach to sexual assault response.
In FY2021, Fourth Judicial Circuit Florida State Attorney's Office received close to $4 million across three additional SAKI grants. With this funding, they plan to continue testing secondary evidence in sexual assault cases that were identified through their FY2018 award; evaluate and test cases that could benefit from advanced DNA testing methods; and further their victim-centered, trauma-informed approach to investigation. They also plan to fund (1) a crime analyst position that will be responsible for entering data into the Violent Criminal Apprehension Program and analyzing intelligence and (2) an additional detective position that will be dedicated to their lawfully owed DNA collection and tracking efforts.
For more information on the specific SAKI awards for this site, see the table below.
| Year | Amount | Purpose Area |
|---|---|---|
| FY2015 | $1,968,822 | Comprehensive Approach to Unsubmitted Sexual Assault Kits |
| FY2018 | $1,500,000 | Comprehensive Approach to Unsubmitted Sexual Assault Kits |
| FY2018 | $880,933 | Expansion of DNA Databases to Assist with Sexual Assault Investigations and Prosecutions: Collection of Lawfully Owed DNA from Convicted Offenders and Arrestee DNA Collections |
| FY2021 | $1,953,447 | Comprehensive Approach to Unsubmitted Sexual Assault Kits |
| FY2021 | $1,000,000 | Expansion of DNA Databases to Assist with Sexual Assault Investigations and Prosecutions: Collection of Lawfully Owed DNA from Convicted Offenders and Arrestee DNA Collections |
| FY2021 | $1,000,000 | Investigation and Prosecution of Cold Case Sexual Assaults |
Please direct all media inquiries to:
Sexual Assault Kit tracking now available in many parts of Florida
— Alachua Chronicle, Jan 18, 2023
"Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) Commissioner Mark Glass announced today that survivors of sexual violence now have a tool to follow the path of their sexual assault evidence collection kits (SAKs).
Based on a law passed in 2021, the state implemented a web-based tracking system that allows survivors to monitor the location and processing of their barcoded sexual assault kits (SAK) and be notified if a DNA match to an alleged perpetrator occurs."
Arrest made in 2007 sexual assault
— Christy Turner, Action News Jax, Nov 16, 2018
DNA evidence from a previously unsubmitted sexual assault kit led to an arrest in an unsolved case from 2007.
Office of the State Attorney Awarded $2.3 Million to process assault kits
— Jax Daily Record, Oct 17, 2018
The Office of the State Attorney for the 4th Judicial Circuit of Florida, has received a SAKI grant totalling $2.3 million to continue building on previous work funded by SAKI. This new grant will continue to fund a specialized sexual assault response team, and expand DNA databases.
Sexual Assault
— WJCT, Apr 6, 2016
The Sexual Assault Kit Initiative team in Florida's Fourth Judicial Circuit sat down with a Florida radio station to discuss how their initiative is teaming law enforcement, prosecutors, and advocates to reduce the backlog of untested sexual assault kits and help victims of sexual assault.
Funded by the Bureau of Justice Assistance, the Sexual Assault Kit Initiative aims to create a coordinated community response that ensures just resolution to sexual assault cases. Through this program, funding is provided to support multidisciplinary community response teams engaged in the comprehensive reform of jurisdictions approaches to sexual assault cases resulting from evidence found in previously unsubmitted sexual assault kits.
