April 9, 2022
RE: Ordinance #220242 Administrative Code – Limits on Storage and Use of DNA Profiles – SUPPORT
Dear Board of Supervisors:
On behalf of the San Francisco Women’s Political Committee (SFWPC), we are writing in strong support of Ordinance #220242, which will prohibit law enforcement from storing and using sexual assault survivors’ DNA for purposes unrelated to the investigation of their case.
SFWPC’s mission is to endorse, empower, and elect people as candidates for local office who self-identify as women and those who share our values. We also champion policies and candidates committed to advancing intersectional feminism, racial justice, gender equality, and equitable systems through participation in the San Francisco political process. We do so by providing an advocacy and political network to build a bench of diverse women+ candidates, activists, organizers, and leaders who will advance these goals at every level of governance and beyond.
To that end, we’re committed to supporting Ordinance #220242 and encourage you to do the same in order to protect and support survivors in San Francisco. Although many survivors do not turn to law enforcement for support, when they do, they’re routinely retraumatized, disregarded, and mistreated in the name of “catching their perpetrator.” This is true across the country and here in San Francisco.
Rather than receiving support, survivors — especially survivors of color — are instead criminalized. They’re punished for protecting themselves against their abusers, while the law enforcement system at large ignores the impact of trauma on substance use, housing insecurity, and the cycle of justice involvement. According to a 2016 report, 86% of incarcerated women are survivors of sexual violence, which further highlights this intersection.
SFPD’s policy to use survivors’ DNA for unrelated criminal investigations is emblematic of the ways in which survivors are punished for the harm committed against them. Instead of using resources to investigate sexual violence, survivors’ privacy and right to their property – ostensibly protected by Marsy’s Law – are routinely violated. We need to immediately end this practice and stand with survivors to protect their rights, disrupt cycles of violence committed by both individuals and the state, and dismantle the criminalization of survivors.
For these reasons, SFWPC supports Ordinance #220242 and respectfully requests your “Aye” vote.
Sincerely,
SFWPC Board of Directors
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