Finding Justice in New Legislation

I’d like to thank Jeri Elster (“The Devil You Know,” by Melba Newsome, Jan. 27) for persevering within a justice system that has been functioning in the Dark Ages while alienating and discriminating against women, their bodies and sexual crimes. With her painful story, Elster has opened the door for changes in legislation that can bring justice sooner rather than later for victims of sexual crimes.

Maria Velasquez

Los Angeles

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The change in legislation carried by Assemblyman Lou Correa (D-Santa Ana) was prompted by a November 1999 Orange County Register investigation by reporter Heather Lourie, “DNA Evidence in Gridlock.” That story and subsequent articles showed that crucial DNA evidence in hundreds of unsolved Orange County rape cases had never been analyzed and was systematically destroyed after the six-year statute of limitations expired.

Correa’s original bill only sought to extend the statute of limitations from six to eight years. [When] Jeri Elster and I, both rape survivors with the Rainbow Sisters Project--a multiracial, L.A.-based organization of rape survivors--got involved, his bill was amended to eliminate the time limit if DNA evidence is analyzed within two years of the crime.

Legislative aides believed that the bill would not pass in the current climate. The Rainbow Sisters Project came up with the strategy to “marry” Correa’s bill to Senate President Pro Tem John Burton’s “innocence bill” allowing convicted felons access to DNA testing. After the bills were joined, the Legislature passed them and Gov. Gray Davis signed them into law.

Karen R. Pomer

Rainbow Sisters Project

Santa Monica