States struggle to tackle backlog of untested rape kits (400,000)
States struggle to tackle backlog of untested rape kits
February 23, 2014 8:29PM ET
Nationwide about 400,000 rape kits remain untested, according to the Department of Justice
With possibly hundreds of thousands of rape kits untested across the country, a number of states are proposing legislation to address backlogs that in at least one case dates back nearly three decades.
In Memphis, Tenn., alone, there are more than 12,000 untested rape kits, going back to the 1980s, according to the New York–based Rape Kit Action Project, which has been tracking the backlogs nationwide. In Texas the group has found about 16,000 untested kits collecting dust in police evidence rooms.
In Cleveland, Ohio, there are about 3,000 kits awaiting testing, and in Detroit, more than 11,000 are backlogged, according to NPR.
Nationwide, the Department of Justice estimates, 400,000 rape kits have gone untested. Last year Congress recognized the backlog of untested rape kits as a national problem in passing the Sexual Assault Forensic Evidence Reporting Act, or SAFER, which seeks to provide data on the number of unsolved rape cases awaiting testing and establish better standards for the tracking, storage and use of DNA evidence in sexual assault cases.
http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2014/2/23/bills-seek-to-tacklebacklogofuntestedrapekits.html
Let's spend more money on planes and tanks that we don't need, cut taxes on corporations and the rich. Sure is better than fighting crime and keeping people safe from things that are really impacting them (from this to health care to welfare - the right keeps wanting to ignore the things really impact people to save us from terrorists and boogeymen).
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