Fight for Justice

On April 28, 2025, Congress passed the RAINN-backed TAKE IT DOWN Act, the first significant federal law to address tech-enabled sexual abuse. 

This historic legislation was designed to combat the online spread of non-consensual intimate images (NCII). (NCII is more commonly known as “revenge porn” or “sexual deepfakes.”)

TAKE IT DOWN marks a major step toward protecting people from sexual exploitation and holding perpetrators (and the platforms that enable them) accountable.

> Learn More About the TAKE IT DOWN Act

In November 2025, RAINN endorsed the Epstein Files Transparency Act. 

This landmark legislation required the Department of Justice (DOJ) to publish all unclassified records in its possession related to the investigation and prosecution of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. 

The DOJ’s slow and incomplete response to this law underscores the often insurmountable challenges survivors frequently face when seeking justice and accountability for perpetrators of sexual violence.

> Learn More About the Epstein Files Tranparency Act

Since 2004, the RAINN-backed Debbie Smith Act has been helping to end the backlog of untested rape kits. 

Because of Debbie Smith’s namesake law, crime labs have better access to funding, more rape kits are quickly tested, and CODIS, the nation’s DNA database, is more effective at helping law enforcement identify sex offenders.

In its first 20 years, the Debbie Smith Act facilitated over 300,000 DNA matches, leading to arrests, convictions, and closure for hundreds of thousands of survivor-victims.

> Learn About Debbie Smith & Her Namesake Law

In May 2024, the RAINN-backed REPORT Act became federal law, strengthening how online platforms must report child sexual exploitation.

The law modernized the CyberTipline reporting system by expanding reporting requirements, increasing penalties for companies that fail to report, and requiring providers to preserve report contents for one year.

By improving how online exploitation is reported and preserved, the REPORT Act helps law enforcement identify children who are being harmed, investigate offenders, and respond more quickly to tech-enabled child sexual abuse.

In July 2024, the RAINN-backed Victims’ VOICES (Voices Outside and Inside the Courtroom Effectiveness)

Act became federal law, strengthening financial accountability for people convicted of federal crimes.

This law clarifies that restitution may include necessary and reasonable expenses incurred by a person who has assumed a victim’s rights, including costs related to supporting the victim through recovery and court participation.

For families, caregivers, and advocates who help survivors access services and navigate the justice process, the Victims’ VOICES Act recognizes a simple truth: supporting a survivor can carry real financial costs, and convicted offenders should be held responsible for those costs.

In 2024, Congress modernized and reauthorized Project Safe Childhood, strengthening the federal response to online child sexual exploitation and abuse.

The law supports coordinated work among federal, state, and local law enforcement, prosecutors, Internet Crimes Against Children task forces, and victim support partners to identify children, investigate offenders, and prosecute technology-facilitated child sexual exploitation.

By expanding investigative tools, training, coordination, and dedicated prosecution resources, Project Safe Childhood helps law enforcement focus on what matters most: finding children who are being harmed and holding offenders accountable.

In December 2024, the Stop Institutional Child Abuse Act became federal law, creating new protections for youth in residential treatment programs.

This bipartisan law requires a national study of child abuse, neglect, deaths, funding, regulation, and standards of care in youth residential programs, including facilities sometimes called “troubled teen” programs.

By requiring federal attention, public reporting, and recommendations for safer care, the Stop Institutional Child Abuse Act creates a path toward stronger oversight, better transparency, and greater accountability when institutions fail to protect children.

RAINN aims to end arbitrary time limits for reporting and prosecuting sexual violence. 

HAWAII, MICHIGAN, and OREGON recently passed RAINN-backed legislation to do just that. 

These laws give more survivors access to justice—even when it takes them many years to come forward about the harm they experienced.

RAINN is working to ensure law enforcement officers have the training and information they need to conduct trauma-informed investigations into crimes of sexual violence.

RAINN-endorsed trauma-informed training legislation recently became law in KENTUCKY, ILLINOIS, and WASHINGTON.

State governments are working overtime to combat the rapid rise of AI-generated/manipulated non-consensual intimate images and videos. (You might know these as “deepfakes,” “revenge porn,” or “fake nudes.”)

RAINN co-created, advised on, or advocated for newly enacted laws in FLORIDA, GEORGIA, HAWAII, MINNESOTA, MONTANA, NEVADA, OKLAHOMA, OREGON, SOUTH CAROLINA, and WISCONSIN.

For generations, medical students have been encouraged to perform “educational” pelvic exams on patients who are unconscious or sedated for unrelated reasons. 

RAINN recently helped IDAHO and NEBRASKA protect patients from non-consensual pelvic exams by requiring every medical provider to obtain the patient’s explicit and informed consent.

Some survivors won’t report sexual assault because they’re afraid of getting charged with a drug or alcohol misdemeanor. 

To remove that barrier to reporting, RAINN helped MISSISSIPPI, VIRGINIA, and WISCONSIN pass laws providing immunity from drug and alcohol misdemeanors when survivors report sexual violence.

RAINN knows survivors of sexual violence need meaningful support. Sometimes, that means permitting a survivor to terminate their housing lease early—without penalties or retaliation from the landlord. 

We helped WISCONSIN lawmakers pass legislation that expands the state’s existing domestic violence statutes to include survivors of sexual violence, granting them early lease termination privileges when safety and recovery are at stake.