Untested Rape Kits

[pkt77242]

This is a very disturbing story about the amount of rape kits that go untested by law enforcement.

Tens of thousands of rape kits go untested across USA

In the most detailed nationwide inventory of untested rape kits ever, USA TODAY and journalists from more than 75 Gannett newspapers and TEGNA TV stations have found at least 70,000 neglected kits in an open-records campaign covering 1,000-plus police agencies – and counting. Despite its scope, the agency-by-agency count covers a fraction of the nation's 18,000 police departments, suggesting the number of untested rape kits reaches into the hundreds of thousands.

 

[ab2cmiller]

Are most of these in Tallahassee?

 

[ShawneeIrish]

That is an insane amount of untested kits. There is a lot o evidence to process but rape kits should obviously take precedence over drug and DUI test kits, for example.

 

[BeauBenken]

It costs $1000 to process a rape kit? Who exactly processes these things, and why does it cost so much?

I think processing the kits is extraordinarily key nowadays considering the technology/databases we have.

 

[BGIF]

This isn't a new issue. It's been around for years, been discussed for years, and periodically gets a flurry of activity then goes back to S.O.P.

Congress poised to approve $41 million to help clear backlog of untested rape kits - The Washington Post


Some kits are not tested because ...

Police may choose to not test evidence in alleged sex assaults if they think it will not be helpful, such as in cases where a suspect’s identity is not in question, an accuser recants or investigators determine a crime did not occur. But in some cases the reason authorities do not submit evidence for DNA testing is that a suspect has not been identified or a prosecutor has not asked, and many departments lack procedures to collect, process and store forensic evidence, according to a 2011 Justice Department report.

...

In 2009, authorities found more than 11,000 unprocessed kits at the Detroit crime lab after it was closed for improperly handling weapons evidence. After testing the first 2,000 kits, authorities identified 127 serial rapists and made 473 matches overall to known convicts or arrestees, or to unknown people whose genetic material was found at crime scenes.

The matches came from Michigan, 23 other states and the District of Columbia. Eight men have been convicted and sentenced to prison, 61 others have been charged and await trial, and 150 investigations remain open, according to prosecutors in Wayne County, Mich.

Since 2010, Memphis has found 12,000 untested kits, some dating to the 1970s. Even when the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation received $3.4 million in federal aid to test DNA evidence in cold-case violent crimes in 2003, records indicate it spent only $537,000 of it on a few hundred cases, because of poor planning and limited police participation, the Memphis Commercial Appeal reported.

...

 

[Irish#1]

It costs $1000 to process a rape kit? Who exactly processes these things, and why does it cost so much?

I think processing the kits is extraordinarily key nowadays considering the technology/databases we have.

Have you ever seen a hospital bill? lol

Could be number of reasons why kits don't get tested. I wonder how many are from girls who got pissed at their significant other, called the police, said they were raped and changed their mind after they cooled down?

 

[BGIF]

Have you ever seen a hospital bill? lol

Could be number of reasons why kits don't get tested. I wonder how many are from girls who got pissed at their significant other, called the police, said they were raped and changed their mind after they cooled down?

Part of the problem as noted in the post before yours. See the quoted text.

Another issue is staffing/facilities most PDs don't have the facilities to get DNA results during commercial break like the CSI shows do. Nor the budgets to send them out.

 

[pkt77242]

Have you ever seen a hospital bill? lol

Could be number of reasons why kits don't get tested. I wonder how many are from girls who got pissed at their significant other, called the police, said they were raped and changed their mind after they cooled down?

I find this kind of demeaning. I doubt many of those girls are going to get rape kits done (now a small percentage might but not many). Getting a rape kit done can be a very humiliating experience for women. A nurse or doctor examines your vagina, and then swabs all around and in it looking for DNA among other things.



ETA: BGIF, I see your post about it but I think that women getting angry with their significant other and then backtracking after they cooled down is probably a very small percentage of women who get rape kits done.

 

[Irish YJ]

Part of the problem as noted in the post before yours. See the quoted text.

Another issue is staffing/facilities most PDs don't have the facilities to get DNA results during commercial break like the CSI shows do. Nor the budgets to send them out.

Maybe they could raise some money by selling the weed they confiscate to Denver smoke shops.

 

[BGIF]

I find this kind of demeaning. I doubt many of those girls are going to get rape kits done (now a small percentage might but not many). Getting a rape kit done can be a very humiliating experience for women. A nurse or doctor examines your vagina, and then swabs all around and in it looking for DNA among other things.



ETA: BGIF, I see your post about it but I think that women getting angry with their significant other and then backtracking after they cooled down is probably a very small percentage of women who get rape kits done.

Which is why I specifically noted, "It's part of the problem ..."


You missed the significant part of my post that accompanied an OLD article:

This isn't a new issue. It's been around for years, been discussed for years, and periodically gets a flurry of activity then goes back to S.O.P.

Do you call your congressperson to express your concern?

Or your state legislator?

Or even your mayor?


Or did you just wish to chide other posters on a message board?