Elimination of Sexual Assault Kit Backlog

AAUW WCU is partnerting with resgitered student organization Student Against Sexual Assault to host Ms. Holly Jones from the Public Protection Office of the NC Department of Justice. Ms. Jone will be discussion how NCDOJ and its Crime Lab, local law enforcment, and NC general assembly addressed the large backlog of sexual assault kits.

Holly Jones works for the North Carolina Department of Justice in the Public Protection Section. In her role, she has been the point person on the Department’s initiatives involving addressing domestic violence and sexual assault, spearheading the state’s role in promoting the Lethality Assessment Program, working with the state’s Sexual Assault Kit Initiative. Holly has worked on special projects for the Governor’s Task Force on Racial Equity in Criminal Justice, including violence prevention programs.

Holly worked with the YWCA for 21 years, holding the Executive Director’s role in Asheville for sixteen years and was the Southeast regional director for the YWCA USA. She was a local elected official for 15 years, serving both on Asheville City Council and Buncombe County Board of Commissioners.

Holly is a native North Carolinian, growing up in Anson County and Asheboro. She has a Bachelor’s degree in Public Policy Analysis from UNC Chapel Hill, a Masters of Divinity from Duke and a Master’s of Public Health also from UNC-Chapel Hill. She currently lives in Asheville NC.