Thousands Of Rape Kits Are Sitting Untouched, And The State’s Not Doing Anything About It
Legislative efforts to count and clear the rape kit backlog have failed over the years in California, with the powerful law enforcement lobby citing the burden on local police budgets and labor.
KQED:
Despite Backlog Of Rape Kits, California’s Not Requiring They Be Tested Or Tallied
Victims’ rights groups estimate that hundreds of thousands of rape kits remain untested at police departments and crime lab storage facilities nationwide—thus far a partial inventory of California by the End the Backlog Initiative has identified some 9,000 untested kits. But the precise number remains a mystery because most states, including California, don’t inventory rape kits, and rape survivors sometimes struggle to get information about their own cases. (Young, 8/3)