There are no violent crimes in which there is a survivor more horrific than a sexual assault or rape.

The victims, if they are lucky enough to survive, must endure the physical scars initially, and then a lifetime of emotional trauma. It’s doubtful that a victim is ever fully restored.

Mercifully, sex crimes in a very important way are among the most solvable because of the evidence that is often left behind by the assailant, , particularly DNA for comparisons in a national database. So it is egregiously shameful and inexcusable that a state audit in 2017 found that 15,000 rape kits that contain evidence that often can be attached to the perpetrator were gathering dust on the back shelves of law enforcement agencies across North Carolina, having not been sent to the state crime lab as a routine part of the investigation.

How can this be? What should we conclude from this?

Danny Britt, this county’s state senator, and a handful of allies are working toward establishing a law that will right this wrong — at least to the extent that is even achievable.

Senate Bill 46, of which Britt is a primary sponsor, does several things, but the most necessary is that it requires the responsible law enforcement agency to get a rape kit to the state crime lab within 45 days of the evidence being gathered. Time is of the essence for many reasons, including rapists often aren’t one-and-done and they likely will strike again. Also, investigations get more difficult with every second that passes.

“Time is of the essence in testing these kits, because each investigation and CODIS hit has the potential to remove a dangerous offender from the streets,” Britt said. “Testing these kits sends a powerful message to offenders that we are serious about sexual assault and using the evidence they left behind to apprehend and prosecute them. It also sends the message to survivors that they and their cases matter.”

But SB 46 doesn’t stop there. It also includes $6 million over the two-year budget period to ensure those 15,000 rape kits make their way to the crime lab, and money to establish local review teams to provide oversight as part of that process. It also provides $800,000 in recurring money that ensures that the state crime lab has the staff to chew through the backlog and make sure that in the future that when rape kits are promptly received, they are analyzed quickly for evidence to heighten the probably that the guilty are brought to justice.

We have no doubt about the future of the legislation. While some tweaking might be in order, who could stand opposed to legislation that has so much potential for upside? Certainly no one who wants to stand in front of voters.

And to better demonstrate its potential, a spokesperson for Attorney General Josh Stein, who supports the legislation, has told us that it has been determined that for every 10 rape kits that are processed, an arrest is made in one case. So if that percentage holds up, we are talking about as many as 1,500 rapes in North Carolina that could have been solved, but weren’t because someone didn’t do their job on the local level.

That is potentially a lot of threats to society removed from society.

As we indicated, the evidence that rapists often leave behind provides a pretty good dotted line back to the perpetrator. But it is useful only if followed.

SB 46, when it becomes law, makes it a near certainty that it will be.