US: LA Police Fail to Use Funds to Test Rape Kits

The federal money was part of a federal program intended to reduce a huge backlog in testing "rape kits," the physical evidence, including DNA, collected after a sexual assault. The audit, conducted by Los Angeles City Controller Laura Chick, shows the backlog has continued to grow by 700 to 900 cases per year, from 3,332 in 2003 to 7,370 as of October 1, 2008. The audit also revealed that the LAPD is failing to comply with a California state law requiring it to notify rape victims whose kits were not opened within two years of their collection, which accounts for over 5,000 of the rape kits in the backlog.  
 
"Why add to the suffering of rape victims by making them wait years to investigate and prosecute their cases -- or letting a prosecution go forward without this evidence?" said Sarah Tofte, a US Program researcher at Human Rights Watch who is researching the rape-kit backlog in Los Angeles and around the country. "The department needs to use its own budget and any future grants to make sure the job gets done."  
 
Timely testing of rape kits can be critical to bringing justice to sexual assault victims. It is often difficult to solve or prosecute a rape case effectively without this forensic evidence. Furthermore, under California law, there is no statute of limitations for bringing a case if the rape kit is tested within two years. But if it is not tested in that time frame, the statute of limitations is 10 years.  
 
"I want to thank Human Rights Watch for effectively pushing this issue into the forefront of the public arena," said Los Angeles City Controller Laura Chick. "Now the leadership of the City of Los Angeles must give this issue the focus, funding, and priority to end the backlog once and for all."  

Read More