Effort To Increase Rape Kit Testing Led To More Than 40 Arrests in NC Cold Cases by Associated Press
6:43pm May 18, 2021 A sexual assault evidence kit is logged in the biology lab at the Houston Forensic Science Center in Houston. (AP File Photo/Pat Sullivan)
More than half of the untested sexual assault kits recently accounted for in law enforcement evidence lockers across North Carolina have now been tested or are awaiting testing at private labs, Attorney General Josh Stein said on Tuesday.
Giving an update with legislators on the implementation of a 2019 law that set aside $6 million to test many of the kits, Stein said whittling down the backlog has resulted in at least 40 arrests, delivering justice to survivors of sexual assault. Stein said another $9 million is needed from legislators to eliminate the backlog entirely.
More than half of North Carolina s sexual assault kit backlog has now been tested Ashad Hajela and Will Doran, The News & Observer (Raleigh, N.C.)
May 19 Once one of the states with the highest number of untested sexual assault kits, North Carolina has now cleared over half of its backlog of more than 16,000 cases, resulting in at least 40 arrests related to at least 58 assaults.
Attorney General Josh Stein said the cost of outsourcing sexual assault kits is increasing drastically and is asking the state legislature for $9 million to fund the outsourcing of all the remaining kits. An initial $6 million was allocated over two years to clear the backlog
North Carolina Attorney General Josh Stein called for more funding to process sexual assault testing kits at a joint press conference with Republican state legislators Tuesday.
An audit of sexual assault testing kits by local law enforcement agencies in 2017 found a significant backlog more than 15,000 kits were untested. In 2019, the bipartisan Survivor Act was signed into law, which mandated that all testing kits be examined.
Kits prior to 2018 have been outsourced to vendor labs. Stein said the first year after the Survivor Act became law, his office witnessed a 125% increase in the number of sexual violence testing kits submitted. Although the state has made “incredible progress,” the work is not nearly done, Stein said. He vowed to eliminate the backlog by 2023. Hence, the new request of a one-time appropriation of $9 million and the addition of 12 scientists six specializing in DNAs and six in other disciplines for testing the older kits.
As the latest numbers show, only 40 rape kits remain untested in the Wilmington area
Attorney General Josh Stein s Office continues to request additional funds to process any backlog of rape kits in the state
N.C. Attorney General Josh Stein s initiative to decrease the number of untested rape kits in the state has also helped solve more rape cold cases including in the Wilmington area.
According to Laura Brewer, N.C. Attorney General Josh Stein s communications director, there are currently 16,186 rape kits that have been inventoried since the last inventory count in 2019. Of those, 2,925 kits completed testing, and an additional 5,342 are in process.
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