Untested Rape Kits: Endangering the Public

by Matt Kelley · 2010-01-21 07:58:00 UTC
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What can we expect in Los Angeles, now that officials have announced that 27 new crime lab positions aimed at eliminating the city’s backlog of untested evidence kits from sexual assaults won't be filled?

Well, for one and most obviously, it means further delays in critical tests in unsolved cases. And though a compromise proposal before the city council would outsource the tests to deplete the backlog, even with such outsourcing, what with overall volume, the city's crime lab will likely end up back where it started -- unable to meet demands and watching a new backlog expand.

It's not just rape victims that should be incensed by the delay, but the broader public -- on behalf of such victims, yes, but also because this lapse means that public safety as a whole remains at risk. Having untested rape kits means that sexual assaults are going unsolved, leaving perpetrators free to commit further crimes. What's more, untested evidence can allow innocent suspects to remain in jail and increase the chance of wrongful conviction.

A strapped budget is no reason to deny victims, or the public, justice. As Sarah Tofte of Human Rights Watch put it, “This announcement undermines public trust in the city’s commitment to eliminate the rape kit backlog and bring real justice to rape victims...The city has broken its promise.”

Sadly, L.A. isn’t alone in allowing rape kits to sit on shelves untested. A recent survey by CBS news found more than 20,000 untested rape kits across the country, an appalling rate of neglect. Police departments and forensic labs are handing victims of crime the ultimate insult -- failing to investigate sexual assaults and commit to the forensic tests that are critical to our justice system. At the same time, they're using budgets to explain away their failed responsibilities -- a flimsy excuse.

Photo Credit: Mightyohm

Matt Kelley is the Online Communications Manager at the Innocence Project and a graduate of the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University. Follow him on Twitter @mattjkelley.
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