Sexual Offense Evidence Kits
The Division of Criminal Justice Services provides hospitals and other health care providers with sexual offense evidence collection kits and drug facilitated sexual assault evidence collection kits. These kits are used by medical professionals to collect DNA and other evidence during an physical exam of an individual who has been the victim of a sexual assault.
The kits are provided at no cost to hospitals and health care providers and contain all the materials, instructions and forms necessary to ensure evidence is collected and stored as required.
To Request Kits:
Hospitals and health care providers must complete this order form and email it to kits@dcjs.ny.gov.
- Drug Facilitated Sexual Assault Fact Sheet: This fact sheet can help medical professionals determine whether drugs were used to facilitate the sexual assault.
- Consent Form: This form is required for laboratory testing to determine the presence of drugs and so the kit can be released to law enforcement.
Important Information for Medical Providers
In New York State, medical providers who treat victims of sexual assault are required by law to notify those individuals that the cost of a forensic rape exam (FRE) can be billed directly to the state Office of Victim Services (OVS). An exam may include collection and preservation of evidence in a Sexual Offense Evidence Collection Kit.
The OVS Forensic Rape Examination (FRE) Direct Reimbursement Program is an exception to the agency’s payer of last resort rule and provides for the personal privacy of individuals who have been the victims of a sexual assault.
In addition, the U.S. Department of Justice Office on Violence Against Women has issued the following national protocols for the acute care of adult, adolescent and child victims of sexual assault:
Training Video
DCJS has produced a training video titled “A Body of Evidence: Using the NYS Sexual Offense Evidence Collection Kit.” It is exclusively for medical providers and instructs them on the proper use of the kit.
Training Introduction (approximately 6 minutes)
More Information/Request the Training Video
For questions about the kits and to obtain copies of the training video, please contact the DCJS Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) Unit:
- dcjsvawa@dcjs.ny.gov
- (518) 485-9905
Sexual Offense Evidence Kit Inventory Reports
Police agencies, prosecutors’ offices and forensic laboratories are required by law to report to the Division of Criminal Justice Services the number of sexual offense evidence kits they have received and processed. The agency is required to annually publish a report detailing this data. Those reports are available on the Publications and Reports page of this website.