Last spring, the state legislature passed a law mandating that Oregon's backlog of unprocessed rape kits finally be tested. Now they're coming back, and so far, DNA from 33 kits has been matched with known offenders.
Here's the Statesman Journal:
Last week, OSP Capt. Alex Garner told a legislative task force overseeing the backlog problem that test results from several hundred kits have come back from Utah. Of those, 33 matched with DNA profiles in a national database. It's unclear whether any prosecutions or exonerations have resulted from the newly tested kits.
Following a sexual assault, victims are typically advised to undergo a medical examination that includes treatment for injuries, prophylactics for STIs, emergency contraception, and the collection of a sexual assault kit, commonly referred to as a rape kit. Collecting biological evidence for a rape kit is an invasive process that typically takes four hours to complete. After a kit has been collected, DNA evidence can be uploaded to a national forensic database of DNA profiles from known offenders, which allows the justice system to locate serial offenders. But this can only happen if kits are processed. They often aren't.
Oregon has a backlog of almost 5,000 untested sexual assault kits, but it's a problem nationwide. The advocacy group the Joyful Heart Foundation has put a conservative estimate at 140,000 untested kits, but that only covers 27 states the organization has data for. The real number is likely much higher.
The reasons for the backlog are many. Some are logistical (e.g., overburdened police departments) and some are depressingly, unsurprisingly linked to deep-seated misconceptions about sexual assault. According to the Detroit Sexual Assault Kit (SAK) Action Research Project, studies of sexual assault kit processing suggest that victims are more likely to have their kits processed if they fit "stereotypically-rooted beliefs about what constitutes 'good victims,''real victims,' and/or 'real crimes.'"
The mandate to test kits passed alongside a bill ending Oregon's 12-year statute of limitations on sexual assault, two practical measures that states have recently taken on to shift the way the legal system approaches victims of these crimes.
I'll be following new developments as Oregon's backlog of previously untested kits continues to be processed.