Early Evidence Kits for survivors

An Early Evidence Kit (EEK) is a DNA self-collection kit for survivors of sexual assault. After sexual assault, there may be DNA present on a survivor’s body or clothing. EEKs help survivors identify where DNA may be present and collect time-sensitive samples when access to a hospital exam is not available. DNA degrades with time, and EEKs may be used in conjunction with an in-person examination or without to support a survivor with evidence collection, for up to five days after assault. Our Early Evidence Kit was designed by survivors with the help of nurses, advocates, and lawyers to enable survivors to collect and store DNA, when accessing a traditional sexual assault forensic exam is not possible or against the survivor’s wishes.

Leda Health’s Early Evidence Kits are tested at our partner lab, which is ISO/IEC 17025 accredited. Our partner lab has experience testing sexual assault kits submitted by law enforcement, having results admitted in court, and testifying in court. Because Leda Health is a private company, we do not have access to the federal Combined DNA Index System (CODIS) database, which contains DNA profiles of convicted offenders and arrestees of certain crimes and may be used by law enforcement authorities to help identify your assailant. Our partner lab is able to analyze DNA samples submitted through Leda Health for the purpose of determining the existence of multiple DNA profiles and may be able to provide limited information pertaining to those DNA profiles, such as sex and a match to the survivor’s profile.

If you wish to be eligible to utilize the CODIS database or are unable to identify your assailant based on your memory and experience of a sexual assault, we recommend that you go to a hospital or law enforcement authority.

Early Evidence Kits are available to members of our partner organizations. Leda does not currently provide Early Evidence Kits directly to survivors, and does not charge survivors for Early Evidence Kits.

If you are a member of a partner organization, you can get an Early Evidence Kit by delivery or pick-up.Our Early Evidence Kit is available in select locations with free delivery in under two hours. We partnered with last mile delivery services to provide a secure, quick, and anonymous delivery service, with live tracking from order to delivery. Our EEK is delivered to the front door of the address provided in a discreet, closed bag with no identifying information, and it can be live tracked through delivery. If Plan B is requested (optional), it will arrive inside the same bag.

If a kit is available for pickup on your campus, house, or region, it will be noted in the user portal. You will receive instructions in the user portal on where the pickup point is, as well as a QR code to access a lock box. All pickup is contactless and discreet.

Prior to submitting a kit for testing, there is no way to guarantee that DNA will be found. The presence of DNA is based on many factors, some of which are completely out of your control. While this may be discouraging, there are past cases of DNA collection and identification even days after an assault took place. Our EEK can help you collect DNA up to five days after sexual assault, but we recommend conducting the kit as soon as you are ready. After competing a kit, you may submit it for testing with our partner lab, submit it to a hospital or police station, or store it. If you choose to store it, you have the option to test your kit for free at our partner lab up to two years after collection.

Privacy is our most important concern, and we take yours very seriously. As a team of survivors, we understand how hard it can be to open up about experiences of sexual assault. With that in mind, ensuring your privacy and autonomy is our top priority. Personal Identifiable Information you disclose in this kit and/or app is safe and will not be shared with any 3rd parties unless approved by you or required by law. We may share select anonymized data to ensure we improve our services to better serve more survivors, but what you choose to do with your kit contents is up to you.

Note: If you become involved with a criminal, civil or other legal proceeding, the information you provide along with this kit may be subject to discovery and disclosure.‍

Read our full Privacy Policy.

Leda believes the survivors should never have to front the cost of our resources, we sell B2B because we feel organizations and institutions should be responsible for the costs and provide time sensitive and accessible resources that protect their communities.

Leda Health has created processes for tracking the chain of custody that include a mobile application that timestamps, tracks, and enables video recording of the kit collection. The kits also come with a written method of tracking the chain of custody to assist survivors and other parties to track and maintain the chain. Leda Health’s protocol involves air drying and properly storing the specimens to preserve the DNA. Furthermore, Leda Health’s kits come with tamper-evident hardware to help preserve the kits and prevent tampering.

Admissibility of any particular item of evidence is determined on a case-by-case basis by trial judges. Trial judges have wide discretion in making these decisions that should be guided by the rules of evidence, which vary by state and jurisdiction and take into consideration multiple factors. To be admissible, evidence must be relevant, meaning that it has a tendency to make a fact more or less probable than it would be without the evidence and the fact is of consequence in determining the case. Other elements in admissibility decisions include whether parties offering evidence have shown that the evidence is actually what they claim it to be and admitting it would not unfairly prejudice the jury. Leda Health has worked on developing protocols aimed at ensuring that evidence collected through its kit will be authentic and reliable. See FAQ about chain of custody.

Because Leda Health is on the forefront of developing and producing self-administered sexual assault kits, we are not aware of any cases addressing this specific issue. We are aware of cases, however, in which self-collected evidence has been admitted in a sexual assault cases.

It is important to keep in mind that Leda Health does not guarantee that the results of your particular self-administered sexual assault kit will be admissible as that decision is reserved for the trial judge. We believe though that courts should admit our kit results, especially if all our protocols are followed. Our protocols are designed so that the evidence collected properly is reliable and when presented to the jury is what it is claimed to be. But also remember that DNA samples are only one piece of evidence in a case. Other evidence like photos, testimonies and witnesses are important and may be crucial to making the best case. Our mobile application also supports the time-stamped storage of photos, witness statements and other pieces of evidence.

Establishing a chain of custody may be necessary to admit an item of evidence in a court of law. A robust chain of custody requires that everyone who handles an item of evidence and every location the evidence is stored is documented and accounted for. The purpose of this is so parties at trial may examine whether evidence is what it is claimed to be and not something different or altered. States and jurisdictions handle defects in a chain a custody differently; some require a nearly infallible chain of custody for admissibility while others allow defects to go to the weight a jury should give an item of evidence and not prevent its ultimate admissibility. Additionally, if a trial judge believes evidence was tampered with along the chain of custody, the court may choose not to admit it.