Sexual assault survivors in Kansas can now check the status of their own forensic evidence online, at any time, without having to call a detective or a hospital. The Kansas Bureau of Investigation has launched a statewide rape kit tracking system that assigns each kit a unique code at the moment of collection, giving survivors secure, private access to status updates as their evidence moves through the system.
At a glance
- Rape kit tracking: Survivors receive a unique code when their kit is collected, which they can use to check its location and testing status through a secure online portal.
- KBI oversight: The Kansas Bureau of Investigation manages the statewide system and receives kits from local law enforcement, logging key transitions including transfer, receipt, and analysis completion.
- Audit trail: Every kit generates a documented chain of custody, reducing the risk of backlogs and ensuring forensic evidence is handled with consistent accountability.
What the rape kit tracking system does
From the moment a forensic exam kit is collected, it enters the tracking system with a unique identifier. Survivors can use that code to check where their kit is — whether it’s still at the collection site, in transit to the KBI lab, or being actively analyzed.
That sequence of updates may sound straightforward, but for years it simply didn’t exist. After undergoing a forensic exam, survivors often had no idea what happened to their evidence. Kits could sit untested for months or years, and the only way to find out was to ask law enforcement directly — a process that can itself feel retraumatizing.
The portal changes who controls that information. Access belongs to the survivor, not to the agency.
Why agency matters in trauma recovery
Research on trauma recovery consistently identifies a sense of agency — having some control over what happens next — as a meaningful factor in healing. Knowing the status of your own forensic evidence is one of the more concrete forms of agency a system can offer a survivor.
Organizations like RAINN have long advocated for reforms like this one, as have coalitions of survivors who spent years without basic information about their own cases. The Kansas Coalition Against Sexual and Domestic Violence has been a consistent voice in the state for exactly these kinds of structural changes.
Kansas joins a growing number of states implementing similar systems, often after sustained pressure from victim advocacy groups. The National Institute of Justice has supported the development of evidence management frameworks nationally, and the Kansas model now offers a working example for other states to study.
Accountability across the forensic system
The benefits extend beyond individual survivors. By creating an audit trail for every kit, the system adds a layer of institutional accountability that has historically been missing from sexual assault evidence handling.
Forensic evidence backlogs have been a documented problem in crime labs across the country. The Bureau of Justice Statistics has documented significant variation in how states handle sexual assault evidence, and tracking systems are increasingly seen as a baseline standard — because when delays become visible, they become addressable.
When bottlenecks show up in data, labs and agencies can be held to account. That matters both for investigations and for survivors who are waiting on answers that affect their lives.
A meaningful step — with real limits
The tracking system addresses one important part of a much larger challenge. Knowing where a kit is does not guarantee it will be tested quickly, and transparency alone does not eliminate the structural pressures on forensic labs. Backlogs remain a serious issue nationally, and the system cannot reach survivors who never reported their assault in the first place — a significant share, given how many assaults go unreported.
Still, the precedent matters. When a state builds a mechanism that treats survivors as people with a right to their own information, that standard tends to spread. Kansas has moved in that direction, and other states are watching.
Read more
For more on this story, see: Emporia News — Kansas rape kit tracking system
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