{"id":175417,"date":"2021-04-01T05:30:00","date_gmt":"2021-04-01T12:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/calmatters.org\/?p=175417"},"modified":"2021-04-23T14:12:05","modified_gmt":"2021-04-23T21:12:05","slug":"law-enforcement-should-get-backlog-of-rape-kits-tested","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/calmatters.org\/_zh\/justice\/2021\/04\/law-enforcement-should-get-backlog-of-rape-kits-tested\/","title":{"rendered":"Law enforcement should get backlog of rape kits tested"},"content":{"rendered":"
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By Kate Karpilow, Special to CalMatters<\/h3>

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Kate Karpilow writes on issues affecting women and families, <\/em>Kate.Karpilow@comcast.net<\/em><\/a>.  She previously directed the <\/em>California Center for Research on Women and Families<\/em><\/a> at the <\/em>Public Health Institute<\/em><\/a>.<\/em><\/p>

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California legislators enacted half a dozen bills in the past five years that send an indisputable, bipartisan message to law enforcement: Identify and test the backlog of rape kits, known formally as sexual assault evidence kits, or SAE kits.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve made it abundantly clear we want the backlog tested,\u201d state Sen. Connie M. Leyva, a Democrat from Chino, said in a recent interview.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Not everyone in law enforcement is listening.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2018, Assemblymember David Chiu and Leyva co-authored Assembly Bill 3118<\/a>, which required the California Department of Justice to conduct an \u201caudit\u201d of untested rape kits throughout the state. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Facilities that receive, maintain, store or preserve SAE kits \u2013 including law enforcement agencies, medical facilities and crime labs \u2013 were to inventory kits in their possession and report their findings to the Department of Justice no later than July 1, 2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Department of Justice released its audit of untested rape kits<\/a> last year in a little-noticed report that deserves renewed attention \u2013 through a legislative hearing \u2013 this April, designated as Sexual Assault Awareness Month<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

That\u2019s because the audit\u2019s findings \u2013 described as \u201cdisappointing\u201d by Chiu and Leyva \u2013 are neither comprehensive nor conclusive. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOnly 149 of 693 law enforcement agencies operating in California<\/a> reported data for the audit, and no medical facilities in California responded,\u201d according to Chiu\u2019s office. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

How then could the audit\u2019s statewide total of 13,929 untested rape kits be anything but a significant undercount?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Law enforcement\u2019s indifference to the backlog reporting requirement is stunning. An analysis based on reporting agencies listed in the audit shows:<\/p>\n\n\n\n