Untested rape kits waste chance to catch criminals

A USA TODAY Media Network investigation identified at least 70,000 sexual assault kits never tested by police. The report covers more than 1,000 law enforcement agencies.

If a murder is committed, you would want to solve it if a lab test could help you. Even if the perpetrator was thought to be dead, you would still want it solved for the families and the victims. Why would that be any different for a rape? The victims and their families still need that closure.

Cecilia Nadon Bruck

There is no excuse for not testing rape kits. Every DNA sample tested and logged into the national database is an opportunity to identify a criminal or clear an individual wrongly accused.

I wonder how many murder cases have gone unsolved, and how many innocent people have been executed, because available DNA has not been tested and logged?

DNA testing and the compilation of a national database is a tool that has tremendous possibilities for identifying criminals.

Jesse R Holt

It takes time, money and trained personnel to process the kits. Once you have a backlog, you need additional resources to do the testing and analysis. This isn’t a one-hour TV episode of “CSI.” It takes time to process kits and get results.

Jane Daffron

USA TODAY’s article reports: “In Houston, analysis of about 6,600 untested rape kits resulted in about 850 matches, 29 prosecutions and six convictions.” One would hope that there would have been more convictions than that, but it’s still worth the price for those six victims to have peace of mind.

Rachel Holton