Last night, the LA City Council approved a budget that will fund the testing of the huge backlog of untested rape kits in Los Angeles.
According to Hollywood NOW President Lindsey Horvath (who was also recently appointed to the West Hollywood City Council - congrats!), "Over the next two years, we will eradicate the backlog of untested rape kit evidence as long as the Council continues to work with LAPD on a system that holds everyone accountable."
As part of the city's budget for the upcoming fiscal year, the council approved money for an additional 26 employees for the city's crime lab DNA section and for using private crime laboratories for outsourcing. The budget now goes to the mayor for signature or veto within 10 days of approval by the City Council. The city has a backlog of more than 5,000 "rape kits," as the collected evidence is called, which have not been tested to try to identify a suspect through matching DNA.
Wonderful news, but HRW points out that this funding only affects the testing of rape kits under the Los Angeles Police Department's jurisdiction." There are still 7,000 more untested rape kits in the 47 other cities in Los Angeles County and stored by the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department.
Related: Why Do Rape Kits Sit Around Untested?
Nearly 13,000 Rape Kits Go Untested in LA County
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We are going through the same thing here in Illinois. I am president of DuPage County's chapter of Illinois NOW, and have spoken with 4 people from our Illinois State Police department and DNA lab. They plan to use the government grants that they are receiving to update their technology, as they already increased their staff in the past year. They plan to have robotics inside every DNA lab by the end of 2009 in Illinois. They hope this will make them more efficient and productive, while enabling them to test even smaller amounts of evidence. I bring this up because I wonder if this idea may help LA as well. I think NOW is doing a great thing by trying to improve these situations all over the US. Congrats to LA! We are hoping Illinois will be on the track to catching up by the end of 2009 as well.
I was really impressed to see this issue raised in an episode of Southland. Is it too optimistic to think that if a primetime drama can cover it, maybe mainstream news could too?
California NOW is also working on legislation to address this as a state-wide issue. California residents can take action here: http://capwiz.com/canow/issues/alert/?alertid=13238511&type=ST&show_alert=1
This is wonderful news and I hope it will encourage other counties to approve funding to begin the long overdue process of testing backlogged rape kits in their own jurisdiction. Anyone know what prompted LA City Council to approve this funding?
This is great news! I was horrified when I read the report from Human Rights Watch about the backlog of rape kits! I hope this will bring some justice and closure to survivors.
Katie Joy,
I can't be certain, but not long ago I was watching one of those real-life forensics shows (Forensic Files, Cold Case Files, something like that). There was a woman in Cali (think it was LA) whose rape kit had not been tested. They said that they only tested a kit if there was a known suspect. The rest went on the shelf, never to be tested.
After years of the cops finding nothing, teh victim brought a possible suspect to the attention of a detective. The cop called a prosecutor and asked whether they still had time under the statute of limitations. The prosecutor thought the law gave them 8 years, which meant they had about a year to get it done.
They went through it all. The tests were run, DNA extracted and compared. The suspect the victim brought up was not the rapist, but after testing the kit, the results were put into CODIS. A match popped up. The match was a man currently in prison for rape.
The prosecutor prepared to file charges against the convicted rapist. Then, she checked the law to be sure about the statute. Turns out it was only 6 years. So, they could do nothing to the rapist, despite the DNA match. Because the kit had set untested on a shelf for all those years, a rapist could never be charged.
I believe the victim fought to have the law changed so that charges could be filed within a year of a positive DNA match. This would keep another woman from the horror of her situation, and keep a rapist from escaping due to budget shortfalls or misplaced priorities.
Props to the LA city council, and a sincere thank you for setting an example for the rest of the country. I've been thinking about Jessica's post from yesterday about the way the media covers feminism, and I'd just like to say, "Hey mainstream media! Next time you need an example of what today's feminist activism looks like: here you go."