18 U.S.C. § 3772 — Sexual assault survivors’ rights

(a) This section gives sexual assault survivors extra rights, on top of the rights in section 3771. First, no one may stop a survivor from getting a medical forensic exam. No one may charge the survivor for one either. Second, a survivor has rights about the evidence collection kit. The kit, or its useful contents, must be preserved without charge. This lasts for the shorter of the statute of limitations or 20 years. The survivor must be told the results, like a DNA match or toxicology report. This does not apply if telling would harm an ongoing investigation. The survivor must be told in writing how kits are collected and preserved. The survivor must be told the kit's status and location. Third, if the survivor asks in writing, officials must give at least 60 days' notice before destroying or disposing of the kit. Officials must also grant further preservation if the survivor requests it. Fourth, survivors have the right to be told about all these rights. (b) Several other protections from section 3771 — subsections (b) through (f) — also apply to sexual assault survivors. (c) "Sexual assault" means any nonconsensual sexual act barred by federal, tribal, or state law. This includes cases where the victim cannot legally consent. (d) Most of this section is funded through the Victims of Crime Act of 1984. The parts about kit-result notice and extended preservation requests are excluded from that funding source. No new money is authorized just for this section.

The record indicates that this section was added by Public Law 114–236, § 2(a), enacted October 7, 2016, and published at 130 Stat. 966. The source credit further shows that the provision was subsequently amended by Public Law 117–103, division W, title XV, § 1505, enacted March 15, 2022, and published at 136 Stat. 956. Beyond these two entries, the source credit does not indicate further amendment activity. Public Law 114–236 is commonly cited as the "Sexual Assault Survivors' Rights Act," legislation generally understood to have arisen from public concern over the mishandling, loss, or premature destruction of sexual assault evidence collection kits by law enforcement agencies, and over survivors' limited ability to track the status of their own forensic evidence. The Act is generally understood to have sought to establish a baseline set of federal rights for survivors, including protections against being charged for forensic examinations, rights to preservation and notice regarding evidence kits, and rights to information about testing results, paralleling and supplementing the broader crime-victims'-rights framework already codified at 18 U.S.C. § 3771. The specific legislative purpose behind the 2022 amendment is not established by the record here; the source credit identifies only the amending act, its date, and its Statutes at Large citation, without further explanation of intent. Accordingly, no further characterization of that amendment's rationale can be offered beyond what the record shows.