Vice President Joe Biden joined Sen. Barbara Mikulski of Maryland Monday to announce that $41 million in funding from the federal budget will be used to test backlogged rape kits sitting in storage around the country. There are approximately 400,000 untested rape kits gathering dust in U.S. crime labs. (That’s considered a conservative estimate since police […]
Rape Kits
Sexual assault forensic exams, or rape kits, can be used to collect evidence from one’s body, clothes and personal belongings. While they can be powerful tools in delivering justice to survivors, the rape kit backlog—hundreds of thousands of rape kits that sit untested in storage facilities—all too often prevents this from happening. The rape kit backlog is a clear representation of the criminal justice system’s failure to address sexual violence.
Detroit Fundraises to Test Rape Kits
In an unprecedented initiative, the cash-strapped city of Detroit has partnered with two nonprofits to raise $10 million for testing its huge backlog of rape kits and conducting further investigations of rape cases. Five years ago, the Wayne County Prosecutor’s Office discovered 11,000 untested kits in a Detroit police storage unit, a few of which […]
California Moves to End Rape Kit Backlog
TRIGGER WARNING: DISCUSSION OF SEXUAL ASSAULT When someone is raped and wants the perpetrator caught and prosecuted, it’s essential that the victim provide forensic evidence of the assault to law enforcement. A “rape kit” is the collection of biological evidence that can lead to an identification of the perpetrator’s DNA. But tragically, rape kits are […]
NEWSFLASH: New York Commits $35 Million to Eliminating the Rape Kit Backlog
Earlier this week, New York County District Attorney Cyrus Vance announced he will be allocating $35 million toward the elimination of untested rape kits across the country. In a press conference on Wednesday, Vance said the money will go towards testing rape kits and solving unsolved sex crimes—all to provide closure to survivors. When a rape kit […]
New Report Shows Rape-Kit Backlog Still High in Vegas, Milwaukee, Tulsa and Seattle
[TRIGGER WARNING: Discussion of sexual assault] For those who are raped, a post-assault exam can be a long and harrowing experience. But if the rapist is to be convicted and taken off the streets, it’s crucial that a rape kit of evidence be gathered and then matched against databases to try and locate the perpetrator. […]
Congress Moves Forward on Rape-Kit Funding
The U.S. Senate subcommittee on commerce, justice, science and related agencies showed its support this week for combating the backlog of untested rape kits by including $41 million in its 2015 fiscal year spending bill as part of a community-based sexual assault response reform initiative. This announcement comes on the heels of an earlier House […]
100 Serial Rapists Have Been ID’d in Detroit
Five years ago, 11,000 untested rape kits were discovered in a police storage facility in Detroit. So far, just 1,600 kits have been tested, but that small number has yielded startling results: 100 serial rapists have been identified, and the DNA of 10 since-convicted rapists has been found. So what do these findings mean? Of […]
We Heart: Houston for Taking Action on the Rape Kit Backlog
The formidable rape kit backlog has been making news for several years. There are hundreds of thousands of untested rape kits in crime facilities around the country, just sitting in storage while the rapists those kits could have helped convict walk the streets. Many jurisdictions have no policies that require the testing of all collected […]
DNA Evidence CAN Stop Serial Rapists
It was an ordinary day in October, 2002. Julie Weil and her infant son were picking up Julie’s daughter, three-year-old Emily, from her Florida preschool at noon. As Julie buckled her daughter into her car seat, she felt a sudden blow to the head. That day, Julie was raped four times in front of her […]
British Judges Free Child Rapists, Say 12-Year-Old Girls “Wanted” Sex
In March, six British soccer players confessed to gang-raping two 12-year-old girls and were sentenced to two years behind bars. But last week, an Appeal Court overturned the sentence, and all of the men were freed. The reasoning? “The girls wanted to have sex,” said Lord Justice Moses, who was among the deciding judges. “And […]