Where:
Sonsie
327 Newbury Street
Boston, MA 02115
Admission:
$30
Categories:
Alcohol, Food, Social Good
Join RE:SISTERS Boston, a women's advocacy group, at the wine cellar at Sonsie on Newbury Street for an evenings of cocktails, food, and fun as we support the Joyful Heart Foundation's End the Backlog initiative to end the backlog of untested rape kits across the nation. Your ticket is a donation to the End the Backlog initiative, and earns you free appetizers (first come first serve)! You can also order from the bar, appetizer & flatbread menu throughout the evening!
About the End the Backlog initiative:
Every 98 seconds, someone is sexually assaulted in the United States. When a sexual assault victim reports the crime, they can choose to have a doctor or nurse conduct an exhaustive examination of their body for DNA evidence left behind by the attacker. This evidence is commonly referred to as a rape kit.
Most people- with good reason- assume that these rape kits are comprehensively tested and used to identify and prosecute assailants. After all, DNA evidence contained by rape kits can be an incredibly powerful tool to solve and prevent crime.
However, it is estimated that hundreds of thousands of rape kits sit untested in police department and crime lab storage facilities across the country, known as the rape kit backlog. Each kit represents a lost opportunity to bring healing and justice to a survivor of sexual violence and safety to a community. The backlog of untested rape kits represents the failure of the criminal justice system to take sexual assault seriously, prioritize the testing of rape kits, protect survivors, and hold offenders accountable.
Last year, the Joyful Heart Foundation launched a policy campaign with an ambitious goal: to enact comprehensive rape kit reform laws in all 50 states. While the type and degree of their efforts vary in each state, the core focus is on supporting the development, advocacy, promotion, and passage of key reform policies in law. This has included collaborating with state coalitions and local stakeholders to coordinate and unify activities, working with legislators to provide guidance and help draft and amend legislation, and partnering with survivors who provide input and testimony to ensure that reform legislation is informed by their voices and others from across the country. Joyful Heart employs strategic communications and public relations alongside these advocacy efforts to promote and make the case for reform in target states.
Monday, Dec 02, 2024 goes until 12/02
The Brighton Emporium