A Manhattan prosecutor is putting up as much as $35 million of his office's funds to help overcome a backlog in the testing of rape kits across the nation, The Associated Press reported.

Cyrus R. Vance Jr. will put part of an $8.8 billion settlement with French bank BNP Paribas to use so that rape victims "know that we, as a nation, are doing everything in our power to bring justice to them," the district attorney said.

This means that evidence from up to 70,000 rape cases nationwide will get long-awaited DNA testing, Vance said.

"Experts estimate hundreds of thousands of rape kits -- swabs and specimens gathered during examinations of victims -- remain to be tested for genetic evidence that could identify, or eliminate, a suspect," the AP detailed. "Some kits have languished for decades."

Testing such kits can cost up to $1,000 -- a hefty price tag that, in part, explains the backlog. The settlement with BNP Paribas is not directly related; the bank paid that fine for allegedly violating U.S. economic sanctions by processing transactions for clients in blacklisted countries.

"New York state communities will get priority in applying for the funding, which also will go to auditing how big backlogs are," the AP reported. "Advocates hope it will build momentum to secure more money," including $41 million President Barack Obama has proposed and Congress is weighing.

Actress Mariska Hargitay, who plays New York City sex crimes Detective Olivia Benson on the NBC television drama "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit," was on hand for Vance's announcement on Wednesday. The backlog in rape kit testing sends a bad message all around, insisted the television star, who has set up the "Joyful Heart Foundation" to help sex crime victims.

"To victims, it says, 'You don't matter. What happened to you doesn't matter,'" Hargitay said. "And to criminals, it says, 'What you did doesn't matter.'"

Law enforcement agencies across the nation, meanwhile, welcomed the district attorney's announcement.

"Victims' lives sitting on a shelf," Kym Worthy, a prosecutor in Michigan's Wayne County, told CBS Detroit. "We had no database, no resources, no help, no protocol, no money and we had a bankrupt city, as everybody knows. ... How can anyone turn their back on these victims?"

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