Sarah Tofte, researcher at Human Rights Watch's US Program, is an expert on sexual violence, DNA evidence and sentencing, and other aspects of US criminal justice policy. She has most recently aided in exposing the backlog of rape kits in Los Angeles, and is advocating for the elimination of backlogs nationally. Before joining Human Rights Watch, she worked as a policy analyst at the Innocence Project, where she helped to exonerate individuals using forensic science. Tofte has also worked for the Minnesota Advocates for Human Rights, the Minnesota AIDS Project, and the Institute on Race and Poverty. Tofte graduated from Luther College in 1999, and from the University of Minnesota School of Law in 2002.

Human Rights Watch Reports

Testing Justice: The Rape Kit Backlog in Los Angeles City and County (March 31, 2009)

No Easy Answers: Sex Offender Laws in the US (September 11, 2007)

So Long as They Die: Lethal Injections in the United States (April 23, 2006)

Articles

"America's Flawed Sex Offender Laws," The Gaurdian, September 5, 2009.

"Making Rape Victims Pay," The Huffington Post, May 13, 2009.

"L.A.'s Untested Rape Kits Represent Lost Justice," Women's e-News, March 31, 2009.

"Violence Against Women: These Numbers Require Action," The Huffington Post, December 19, 2008.

"US: Soaring Rates of Rape and Violence Against Women," December 18, 2008.

"US: LA Police Fail to Use Funds to Test Rape Kits," October 28, 2008.

"US: Los Angeles Needs Plan to Test Rape Evidence," October 29, 2008.