Hello, this is Governor Janet Mills, and thank you for listening.
You know, for fifteen years, I was the elected District Attorney for three counties in Western Maine, and it was one of my responsibilities to prosecute hundreds of cases of sexual assault. Many of them involved women and children who bravely offered testimony against an offender. When that testimony resulted in a conviction, which it most often did, we succeeded in preventing that particular survivor from being revictimized, and we very likely prevented that offender from victimizing others.
In one such case, a woman I will call "Jane" was kidnapped from her workplace by her husband and held captive and assaulted. She bravely testified, and we obtained a conviction and a sentence of twenty-five years. Even then, though, she didn't feel safe. She felt forced to leave the state for many years, even when he was in prison. That's what sexual violence can do – separate you from your loved ones, your home, your community, make you feel isolated and vulnerable for years afterwards.
I am determined to make sure that state law provides the strongest possible protection against sexual violence, and the clearest pathways for survivors and law enforcement to hold perpetrators accountable for their crimes. I am proud to say that since I've taken office, we've mobilized state government to better serve survivors. We've enacted laws to clarify the definition of consent, so there's no ambiguity when it comes to sexual assault. We enacted laws to expand sexual assault awareness education in our high schools. We strengthened our response to sexual assault within our armed services, and we've bolstered funding for sexual assault services so that every survivor can get help.
Three years ago, my administration began working with the Maine Coalition Against Sexual Assault to create a pilot program in Kennebec and Penobscot Counties, using a federal grant aimed at implementing a statewide tracking system for sexual assault forensic kits. Well, earlier this week, I visited with the staff who ran one of those pilot programs at Saint Joseph Hospital in Bangor.
For 18 months, the Maine Coalition Against Sexual Assault, and Saint Joseph, and the Bangor Police Department researched the best kind of tracking systems available nationwide, and they tested a tracking system that puts survivors first. Thanks to that coordinated work, as well as new state funding enacted under my administration, we can now establish a statewide tracking system based on our research to support survivors across Maine. So last fall, as we were putting together our supplemental budget, I talked with legislators about putting money in the supplemental budget to fund Senator Jill Duson's bill to establish and maintain a tracking system for all forensic sexual assault examination kits.
One service provider described the importance of a sexual assault examination kit tracking system for survivors this way: "Survivors experience so much loss of control over their bodies during a sexual assault. This continues when they seek medical treatment. Knowing where the evidence is going, if it will be tested and where it will be stored, could help reinstate some of the control survivors feel they have over their bodies and over the entire evidence collection process."
I want to thank Senator Jill Duson and the sexual assault service providers, the hospitals, law enforcement departments, and the State Crime Lab for working to address this insidious issue of sexual violence over the last few years here in Maine.
It was my honor to sign a budget this year that builds on the work we've done together since I became Governor, as well as on my experiences within the criminal justice system going back some decades, in order to better deter violence, to protect victims of all crimes, and to help people like Jane heal the harm and return to the safety of their own home.
This is Governor Janet Mills, and thank you for listening.