Sexual assault & domestic violence

Progress on sexual assault and domestic violence is hard-won and often underreported. This archive tracks legal reforms, survivor support breakthroughs, policy advances, and community-led interventions that are reducing harm and expanding justice for survivors.

Female protester with megaphone, for article on rape kit reform

All 50 U.S. states now have rape kit reform laws after 16-year campaign

By / / Good News For Humankind

Rape kit reform just hit a milestone 16 years in the making: with Maine’s new law on May 1, 2026, all 50 states, Washington D.C., and Puerto Rico now have at least one pillar of reform on the books. The campaign began when survivors started writing letters to actress Mariska Hargitay, whose Joyful Heart Foundation later built a research-grounded framework called the Six Pillars — covering mandatory testing, dedicated funding, and a survivor’s right to know what happened to their own kit. Before this wave, a person could endure an hours-long exam and never learn if the evidence was tested. Laws on paper aren’t justice in practice yet, but the distance covered shows what survivor-led advocacy can accomplish when it refuses to quit.

A forensic evidence collection kit on a medical table for an article about rape kit testing mandates — 14 words.

New Jersey requires testing of every rape kit under new survivor justice law

By / / Good News For Humankind

Rape kit testing is now mandatory in New Jersey under a new law requiring all sexual assault forensic evidence kits to be submitted to a lab within 45 days and tested within six months. The legislation directly targets a decades-long backlog that left thousands of survivors waiting years for answers while dangerous offenders went unidentified. Survivors also gain the right to track the status of their own evidence. New Jersey joins more than 40 states that have passed similar accountability laws, part of a national movement that has shown testing backlogs leads to identifying serial offenders and preventing future crimes.

A gavel resting beside legal documents in a courtroom for an article about rape kit storage law reform — 14 words.

New York extends rape kit storage to 20 years, giving survivors more time to seek justice

By / / Good News For Humankind

New York’s rape kit storage law now requires sexual assault evidence to be preserved for 20 years, doubling the previous 10-year limit and giving survivors significantly more time to decide whether to pursue charges. Research consistently shows that many survivors need years or even decades before they feel ready to report, meaning shorter storage windows effectively forced premature legal decisions on people still processing trauma. The legislation is part of a broader package of survivor-focused reforms in New York, building on earlier efforts to address the national rape kit backlog. Advocates call the extended timeline a meaningful step toward aligning evidence policy with the reality of how survivors heal.

A laboratory technician handling forensic evidence kits for an article about rape kit tracking — 13 words.

Kansas gives sexual assault survivors real-time access to rape kit tracking

By / / Good News For Humankind

Kansas rape kit tracking system gives sexual assault survivors secure online access to the status of their own forensic evidence, removing the need to contact law enforcement directly. The Kansas Bureau of Investigation assigns each kit a unique code at collection, letting survivors check its location and testing progress through a private portal. This shift in information access represents a meaningful step toward survivor agency, a factor researchers consistently link to trauma recovery. The system also creates an audit trail that increases institutional accountability and helps surface backlogs before they go unaddressed.

Close-up of forensic evidence collection supplies in a clinical setting for an article about rape kit history and Martha Goddard

How one survivor-advocate’s idea became the global standard for sexual assault evidence

By / / Good news links

Rape kit history traces back to Martha Goddard, a Chicago survivor-advocate who designed the standardized sexual assault evidence collection kit in the mid-1970s after recognizing that inconsistent protocols were allowing offenders to escape prosecution. First deployed across 26 Cook County hospitals in September 1978, the kit spread to 215 Illinois hospitals within two years and reached New York City by 1982. Today, more than 700 Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner programs use standardized rape kit protocols across the United States, Canada, and Australia. What began as one woman’s response to institutional failure became the global infrastructure for forensic sexual assault investigation.

image for article on Gisèle Pelicot trial

Dominique Pelicot sentenced to 20 years in prison in historic French rape trial

By / / Good News For Humankind

The Gisèle Pelicot trial ended with all 51 defendants convicted on at least one charge — a sweep almost unheard of in cases of drug-facilitated sexual violence. Her husband, who spent nearly a decade drugging her and inviting strangers to assault her, received the maximum 20-year sentence. What made the trial extraordinary wasn’t only the verdicts but Gisèle’s choice to waive her anonymity, sit through three months of hearings, and insist that shame belonged to the perpetrators. Outside the courthouse in Avignon, crowds applauded each ruling, and feminist groups hung banners reading “Thanks Gisèle.” Her stand has reignited a push to rewrite France’s rape laws around consent — and offered survivors everywhere a different model of what refusing silence can look like.

Argentinian flag flying near a building, for article on crimes against trans women

In first, an Argentine court convicts ex-officers of crimes against trans women during dictatorship

By / / Good News For Humankind

Argentina just made legal history: a court in La Plata convicted 11 former officials of the 1976–1983 dictatorship for crimes against humanity specifically committed against transgender women — believed to be the first ruling of its kind anywhere in the world. Eight trans plaintiffs took the stand to testify about rape and torture at the Banfield Pit, one of the country’s largest clandestine detention centers. Ten defendants received life sentences; one was sentenced to 25 years. When the verdict was read, survivors and families packed the courtroom and wept. Argentina has been quietly building the world’s most ambitious reckoning with state terror, and this ruling extends that work to a community long left outside official memory — a model other nations are studying.

Woman wearing head covering, for article on gender-based violence

E.U. reaches first-ever agreement to eliminate various forms of violence against women

By / / Good News For Humankind

The European Union just agreed to its first-ever continent-wide law protecting women from gender-based violence, covering all 27 member states. The deal requires every country to set up helplines, rape crisis centers, and survivor support services, and it criminalizes cyberstalking and online harassment with shared definitions across borders. It directly names harms like female genital mutilation and forced marriage, creating enforceable protections where none existed before. Lawmakers acknowledge real gaps — including the absence of a consent-based definition of rape — but built in a review every five years to keep strengthening the rules. For a crisis that touches one in three women in Europe, it’s a foundation the next generation of advocates can build on.