and here are some other key stories we're following tonight the state is making major changes to how it handles sexual assault cases attorney general Matt Platkin is now mandating that all sexual assault forensic exam kits also known as rape or safe kits are tested that's once the victim releases the kit to law enforcement the directive also covers all previously untested kits dating back to 2019 and States every kit regardless of how old will have to be tested by the end of 2025 according to the Attorney General's office this is part of a larger effort to improve how sexual assault survivors are treated but it'll also clear a backlog of some 1,200 untested rape kits estimated to have been in law enforcement's possession between 2018 to 2020 that data is according to a nonprofit organization called end the backlog which tracks these reforms Nationwide New Jersey was one of roughly a dozen states that allowed prosecutors to override survivors requests for a kit to be tested lawmakers are also considering a bill that would codify this mandate into state law