Advocacy
Dan and Gil Harrington, the driving forces behind Help Save The Next Girl, both support legislation and social change to make the legal system easier to navigate for victims and their families. The Harrington Family has focused the majority of their efforts on the following pieces of legislation:
Katherine’s Law
Familial DNA Testing
Kristen’s Law
Katherine’s Law
Katherine’s Law, VA Bill HB2490, was introduced in 2011. The bill would require campus police to report the death or alleged rape of any person on campus property to the local law-enforcement agency in which the institution is located. In cooperation with the campus police, local law enforcement would assume responsibility for leading the investigation.
Familial DNA Testing
Familial DNA Testing, or Familial Searching, is the deliberate search of a DNA database for matches that are not exact, but close enough to constitute a familial relation (sibling, parent, etc.) This process has been used in the UK for a few years, but is only currently practiced in the US in four different states; California, Colorado, Texas and Virginia.
For more information, check out the FBI’s web article on Familial Searching.
More on Familial DNA Testing in VA:
VA Can Now Use Familial DNA Testing Technique, WHSV
Va. ready to conduct familial DNA testing, Richmond Times-Dispatch
Virginia To Perform Familial DNA Testing In Criminal Cases, American University Radio
Kristen’s Law
Named after Kristen Modafferi, an 18 year old from Charlotte, North Carolina, who went missing in June of 1997, this bill was started to help create and fund a National Center for Missing Adults (NCMA.) Before the creation of NCMA, there was a lack of a centralized organization to aid in cases involving missing persons over the age of 18. In 2009, the NCMA was absorbed by Let’s Bring Them Home (LBTH), an Arkansas non-profit offering education and resources. LBTH/NCMA offers a wide variety of resources for families of missing persons, as well as opportunities to be a supporter or advocate.