Unclog the Backlog
Hundreds of thousands of DNA samples from rape victims go untested for years; bill would help
By Marty Goddard
Thirty years ago in Chicago, I made a life altering decision to work in the sexual assault field. There were just too many horror stories about victims of rape who had the courage to report their assaults, only to be confronted with a chaotic and unfair criminal justice system. It became clear that the major reason perpetrators were not being convicted was because of a lack of physical evidence for use in court.
By 1975, I helped set up a non-profit agency, raise money, and pull together a team of police, crime lab, prosecutors and hospital people to develop standards for collecting, sharing and testing evidence from crimes. By 1981, 6,500 professionals in all 102 Illinois counties had been trained on an evidence collection kit - which some casually refer to as rape kits - and hospital exam protocol, making Illinois the first State to have a uniform, standardized program.
With the advent of DNA technology in the mid-80s, it became even more important to help hospitals and law enforcement nationwide standardize their procedures. Based on the Illinois experience, I teamed up with the Department of Justice’s Office for Victims of Crime to develop a protocol. By 1989, training and protocols had been made available to any community or state needing a ‘jumpstart’ to develop their own programs.
Law enforcement agencies have long encouraged sexual assault victims to report their crime, agree to undergo a comprehensive hospital examination, and be willing to testify in court if an offender is apprehended. Victims were told that physical evidence collected from them and the crime scene would be the most crucial part of a successful prosecution.
Unfortunately, ‘real life’ case investigations can be a far cry from what we see in the television versions of crime scene and cold case investigative shows. In the past few years, I have become increasingly alarmed to hear about the enormous backlog of evidence collection kits stored in crime labs throughout the country.
According to the “National Forensic DNA Study Report” released in April, there are currently 221,000 kits with biological samples from rape and homicide cases that have been collected but not yet tested. This represents more than half of an estimated 400,319 unsolved rape and homicide cases that are likely to contain evidence conducive to DNA testing.
Thankfully, Senators Orrin Hatch (R-UT) and Patrick Leahy (D-VT) have introduced the Advancing Justice Through DNA Technology Act. This bill contains three parts. The first part enacts the “Debbie Smith DNA Backlog Grant Program,” which provides the funding for states to clear up their forensic backlog. It also authorizes funding to ensure that DNA testing demands are efficiently managed in the future.
The second part creates the “Kirk Bloodsworth Post-Conviction DNA Testing Program,” which will help states pay the costs of post-conviction DNA testing over a five-year period. In 1993, Mr. Bloodworth’s wrongful conviction was the first death row case overturned by DNA testing. Ten years later, the same evidence identified and led to the charging of another person for the crime.
The final part of the bill authorizes grants to states for capital prosecution and defense case improvements. The grants will be used to train, oversee and improve the quality of death penalty trials. Additionally, it will provide support and assistance to the families of murder victims in capital cases.
Congress is working hard to provide solutions to make our criminal justice system operate more seamlessly convicting the guilty and protecting the innocent.
It would be an absolute travesty of justice to allow the backlog situation to continue, and to deny justice to victims. Last November, the DNA Technology Act overwhelmingly passed the U. S. House of Representatives. Today, the U.S. Senate can truly show its support of victim’s rights by passing this legislation immediately.
Phoenix resident Marty Goddard helped lead the development of a national standardized sexual assault evidence collection kit, also known as the “rape kit,” 30 years ago.
Reprinted with permission of the author. This opinion-editorial originally appeared in the East Valley Tribune (Arizona).
