Leo’s Law is the common name used for state sexual assault evidence reform statutes that put hard deadlines on how quickly a rape kit must be picked up by police, submitted to a crime lab, and tested, along with rules requiring that survivors be able to track their kit online and that the evidence be preserved for years or decades. The exact numbers vary by state, but the framework is consistent: a kit cannot sit in a hospital or an evidence room indefinitely, and you are entitled to know where yours is.
These laws grew out of a national scandal. Historical estimates put the number of untested kits sitting in police storage and crime labs somewhere between 90,000 and 400,000, and as of 2022 at least 25,000 untested kits were still waiting in agencies and labs across the country. The reforms described below are the legislative answer to that failure.
Deadlines for Picking Up, Submitting, and Testing Your Kit
Once you consent to releasing your kit to law enforcement, three separate clocks start running.
The first is for pickup. After the medical facility notifies the police, the agency has a limited window to take physical custody of the kit. Some states set this as short as five days; others allow up to two weeks. The point is to stop kits from sitting in hospital storage.
The second is for submission to a crime lab. After taking custody, law enforcement generally has somewhere between 30 and 45 days to deliver the kit to a laboratory for analysis. This is the deadline that was most often missed in the pre-reform era, when kits could sit in an evidence room for years.
The third is for testing itself. Once a lab receives a kit, reform statutes commonly require forensic analysis to be completed within 120 days, though the specific window varies by state. The lab isolates biological material, develops a DNA profile where possible, and compares it against profiles in CODIS, the FBI’s national DNA database. A CODIS hit can identify an unknown suspect or connect multiple assaults to the same person.
What Happens If a Deadline Is Missed
Missing a deadline does not throw out the evidence. States that passed these reforms generally included a provision stating that noncompliance with submission or testing timelines cannot be used to challenge the validity of DNA evidence, dismiss charges, or overturn a conviction. The deadlines exist to hold agencies accountable, not to give defendants a way out. If your kit was handled late, that delay does not undo the case built on it.
Tracking Your Kit Online
At least 37 states and Washington, D.C. have built or committed to building statewide tracking systems that let survivors monitor their kit from a phone or computer. The systems are free, confidential, and anonymous. You log in using the unique identifying number assigned to you during the forensic exam.
The portal shows each step: when the kit was collected, when police took custody, when it reached the lab, whether testing is complete, and in some states whether there was a DNA match. Before these systems existed, survivors often had no way to find out whether their kit had been tested at all without making repeated calls to police departments.
There is no federal law requiring states to build a tracking system, so coverage is not universal. If you had a forensic exam and are not sure whether your state offers tracking, your state attorney general’s website is the right place to check.
How Long Your Kit Is Preserved
Reform laws require that kits be stored securely for extended periods. Some states mandate a minimum of 20 years. At least one state requires retention for 50 years or the length of the statute of limitations for the crime, whichever is longer. Retention periods for unreported kits tend to be the longest, because a survivor may come forward years or decades later.
Storage conditions matter as well. Biological evidence degrades in heat and humidity, and national standards from the National Institute of Standards and Technology set tiers for proper evidence storage: frozen at or below 14°F, refrigerated at 36°F to 46°F with humidity under 25%, or temperature-controlled at 60°F to 75°F with humidity under 60%. A kit left in an uncontrolled warehouse can become useless long before its retention period runs out.
Notice Before a Kit Can Be Destroyed
Before an agency can destroy your kit, state law generally requires that you be notified in advance. You then have a defined window to respond and ask that the kit continue to be preserved. If you make that request, the agency must keep the kit for an extended period or indefinitely, depending on the jurisdiction. Notification procedures and response windows differ by state, but the principle is the same across them: your evidence should not be destroyed without warning and a chance to object.
The Exam Itself Is Free
Federal law prohibits charging survivors for forensic medical exams. Under the Violence Against Women Act, any state or local government receiving VAWA grant funds must cover the full out-of-pocket cost of the exam, and states cannot require you to seek reimbursement from your own insurance. This applies even if you choose not to cooperate with law enforcement or file a report.1Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 34 USC 10449 – Rape Exam Payments
A 2024 Government Accountability Office review found that 47 of 56 states and territories have their own laws specifically barring survivors from being billed; the remaining nine certify to the Department of Justice that a government entity covers the costs.2U.S. Government Accountability Office. Sexual Assault – States Provide for Survivors to Access Free Forensic Exams but Total Costs Are Unknown Billing errors still happen. If you receive a bill, your state attorney general’s office or a local victim advocacy organization can step in.
You Can Have a Kit Collected Without Reporting
You can have a full forensic examination and evidence kit collected without filing a police report. This option exists because biological evidence degrades quickly, and forcing a decision about law enforcement in the hours after an assault would mean losing irreplaceable evidence if you are not ready to make that call.
These non-reporting kits are handled differently from reported ones. The U.S. Department of Justice’s Office on Violence Against Women has advised that submitting non-investigative kits to a lab for DNA testing without the survivor’s consent should not be standard practice. The kit is sealed, stored securely, and can be released for testing if you later decide to file a report.
If Something Goes Wrong
If you believe an agency has failed to meet its obligations for picking up, submitting, testing, tracking, or preserving your kit, you have places to turn. For state cases, contact your state attorney general’s office or a local victim advocacy organization; both can push agencies to comply with statutory deadlines. For federal cases, the Crime Victims’ Rights Ombudsman at your local U.S. Attorney’s Office handles complaints about violations of federal victims’ rights.3U.S. Department of Justice. 18 USC 3771 – Crime Victims Rights An advocate can also help if you receive a bill for an exam, if your kit’s status is unclear, or if you receive a destruction notice and want to request continued preservation.