VA. ELIMINATES BACKLOG OF OVER 2,000 RAPE KITS
Virginia has tested 2,665 rape kits that had been sitting in storage, eliminating the backlog of untested kits that had grown for years.
Attorney General Mark Herring announced the milestone more than five years in the making at a news conference Wednesday in Richmond, saying the elimination of the backlog was one step in showing the state takes every case of sexual violence seriously and treats survivors with respect and compassion.
He also pledged the backlog would never return.
The effort to test “physical evidence recovery kits” began after the General Assembly ordered police departments to hand over untested kits collected before July 1, 2014. An audit revealed law enforcement agencies were holding onto thousands of untested rape kits collected between 1988 and 2014.
The kits include DNA swabs collected after a woman is sexually assaulted and goes to a hospital and potential evidence to identify a perpetrator.
Survivors whose kits were never tested were denied “a sense of security and justice that is critical for healing from such a traumatic experience,” Herring said.
Testing the 2,665 kits in the backlog led to 851 new DNA profiles in a national database, 354 hits sent to law enforcement agencies to investigate and charges against at least one man, Herring said.
He also highlighted a 2016 state law that mandated immediate testing of kits, which hesaidwouldpreventabacklog from occurring again. The Department of Forensic Science also created a tracking system for the kits that allows survivors and state and law enforcement agencies to check the progress of the kit.
Debbie Smith, a survivor of sexual assault and an advocate for others who have been raped, spoke at Wednesday’s press conference with Herring. She said seeing stacks of untested kits was heartbreaking because the testing in her case gave her the freedom to continue living her life without a sense of constant fear. She said the lengthy exam during which victims have evidence collected from their bodies can bring stress, trauma and embarrassment, even though the assault is not their fault.
Smith said these survivors were putting their trust in the system, but the system was not equipped to help them. She saw the end of the backlog and commitment for it never to return as a turning point in the way Virginia responds to sexual assaults.
Of the more than 700 untested kits collected from Hampton Roads localities and colleges, 400 were from Virginia Beach, according to data provided by the attorney general’s office. Tests from Hampton Roads led to the addition of more than 270 DNA profiles to the national database and more than 100 hits reported to law enforcement.
The project to eliminate the backlog was funded through grants totaling $3.4 million from Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance and the Department of Justice. In Virginia, the kits were tested through a private company called Bode Cellmark Forensics.