7,000 untested rape kits...

[sleigh]

On the way home this evening, I heard an NPR report saying that an audit of LA's police department had revealed that there were over 7,000 rape kits that had been used but had never been tested for DNA evidence. The LA County Sheriff's office has also said they have another 5,000. That's 12,000 kits where the evidence has never been pursued. According to the article, an investigation by Human RIghts Watch indicates that as many as 400,000 rape kits are currently sitting untested around the country.

The worst part of the audit was the revelation that of the initial 7,000 LA kits, 2,000 of them were so old (older than six years) that the statute of limitations had run out -- even if testing the DNA revealed the identity of the attacker, that person can no longer be prosecuted.

Listening, I found myself outraged. All those victims and what they endured, yet the work that might convict their attackers hasn't been done for various reasons: a lack of technicians, budget constraints, the sheer inertia of the system... It's not fair; it's not right. The CSI shows and the various other crime investigation shows feature dazzling feats of scientific forensic sleuthing (and seemingly getting DNA test results in minutes) -- yet that's not the reality. It's not even close. The reality is darker, far slower, and much less certain...

Comments

[cakmpls.livejournal.com]

Much as I enjoy them, the CSI-type shows have a lot to answer for. Here are these amazingly equipped big-city labs, and they deal with a couple of cases at a time. The reality, of course, is that most are underfunded, understaffed, underequipped, and overworked.

DNA testing, as I understand it and contrary to TV, is expensive and takes some time. If I had to bet, I'd bet that many of the untested kits are from cases where the law enforcement folks thought they didn't have a good case even with an ID, and they figured the limited resources were better spent on cases they could prosecute with some hope of winning. I'm not defending that, but I understand it, and if that's the level of justice taxpayers are willing to pay for, that's the level we'll get.

[sleigh.livejournal.com]

I had the same inclination, to think that many of the untested kits were for rapes where the detectives felt, for one reason or another, that they were unlikely to catch the perpetrator. But I also wonder how many of those detectives were also making the "she was asking for it" call, or were thinking "maybe she deserved it" or "maybe this was consensual and she changed her mind" or... whatever.

The NPR broadcast featured the story of a woman whose was tied to her bed for two hours in her home while her rapist assaulted her -- and whose kit remained untested for a decade until there was another rape with the same basic MO. They tested her kit then, and got a match in their database... but it wasn't the same guy, but another man.

And since the case was ten years old, they couldn't prosecute. The victim is now petitioning state legislature to extend the statute of limitations in this kind of situation.

Yeah, that's only one data point (and was undoubtedly chosen for its shock value), but it shouldn't be up to detectives or finances or understaffing to make the call. If you have a rape kit, I think we as a society have the moral obligation to do the testing, not let it sit.

[skylarker.livejournal.com]

Oprah did a segment on the untested rape kits. Apparently it costs thousands of dollars to do the tests, and the funding for it is not available. Some people are able to get them done by paying out of their own pocket.