After a man held a knife to her throat, forced her into her car and repeatedly raped her, Helena Lazaro underwent a painful and humiliating medical forensic examination. The 17 year old wanted her attacker caught.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She never imagined the evidence collected in what is known as a rape kit would sit untouched for years by the Los Angeles County Sheriff\u2019s Department. And by the time she discovered the identity of her attacker, prosecutors couldn\u2019t charge him with the rape because the statute of limitations had expired in California.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI think about that 17-year-old girl, the 25-year-old girl, the 30-year-old woman \u2013 all the versions of myself who have suffered,\u201d Lazaro says. \u201cThat suffering could have ended much sooner.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Victims\u2019 rights groups estimate that hundreds of thousands of rape kits remain untested at police departments and crime lab storage facilities nationwide\u2014thus far a partial inventory of California by the End the Backlog Initiative<\/a> has identified some 9,000 untested kits. But the precise number remains a mystery because most states, including California, don\u2019t inventory rape kits, and rape survivors sometimes struggle to get information about their own cases.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Law enforcement might opt not to submit kits for DNA and other analysis for any number of reasons\u2014the case may be solved or cleared without need for test results, or officers may regard it as a low priority. But another reason so many kits gather dust is financial: Processing costs an estimated $500 to $1,500 per kit, sometimes more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Legislative efforts to count and clear the rape kit backlog, to track the kits and to mandate all new kits be tested have failed over the years in California, with the powerful law enforcement lobby citing the burden on local police budgets and labor. This year appears to be no different. Some legislation that would reform rape kit collection has been watered down. Other bills await approval from lawmakers charged with weeding through bills that carry a price tag, who often reject popular measures because of their cost.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The responsibility for submitting rape kits for testing largely falls to local police departments and county sheriff\u2019s offices. But a growing number of states have gotten involved\u2014reacting to public outcry and to evidence<\/a> that testing rape kits puts serial rapists behind bars. In recent years, California has \u201cencouraged\u201d<\/a> law enforcement submit kits within a certain timeframe and legalized a victims\u2019 bill of rights. But unlike many other states, California has stopped short of mandating testing or even paying to calculate the depth of the backlog.<\/p>\n\n\n\n One legislator has even resorted to a novel approach to crime-solving: A bill that would ask California taxpayers to donate directly to the rape kit backlog fund when filing their state income tax returns.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt takes significant resources and political will, getting leaders to engage in this problem and say it\u2019s a priority and want to fix it,\u201d said Ilse Knecht, director of policy and advocacy at the Joyful Heart Foundation, a national nonprofit that works on sexual assault.<\/p>\n\n\n\n