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OnlinePoker

(5,702 posts)
Fri Feb 22, 2019, 10:40 AM Feb 2019

DNA results found in 900+ untested rape kits in Austin police backlog

Source: NBC Affiliate

The Austin Police Department could potentially reopen dozens of rape investigations after getting the results from its backlog of 2,665 untested rape kits. About 35 percent of the rape kits tested brought back positive DNA findings, which could mean as many as 933 cases.

Austin Police outsourced the DNA testing of the untested rape kits to labs in other states to help tackle the backlog. All the testing was completed in April 2018 and now that investigators have the results, they are "reopening and beginning to work cases that correspond with kits that yielded positive results," according to a City of Austin memo released Thursday.

When a rape survivor is assaulted, they are given a forensic exam called a rape kit. Once the kit is tested, if any DNA other than the victim's DNA is found, that means it yielded a positive finding. Investigators then take the DNA and review it for entry into the Combined DNA Index System, or CODIS.

Read more: https://www.kxan.com/news/local/austin/dna-results-found-900-untested-rape-kits-in-austin-police-backlog/1801168478



You want a national crisis? Untested rape kits are a national crisis. The number of violent criminals that would get taken off the street by doing this testing would be worth a hell of a lot more than the phantom criminals crossing the border.
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DNA results found in 900+ untested rape kits in Austin police backlog (Original Post) OnlinePoker Feb 2019 OP
"Some of these cases date back to the 1990s" dalton99a Feb 2019 #1
Will they still be able to prosecute? efhmc Feb 2019 #4
I believe the statute of limitations is 10 years for adult victims dalton99a Feb 2019 #5
I heard it was 25 years. (nt) apnu Feb 2019 #21
Depends on the state. Angleae Feb 2019 #25
In some jurisdictions they file "John Doe" warrants, which means they are charging the owner of the okaawhatever Feb 2019 #22
This just an example of a national disgrace. It is a National Emergency. At one time over ... marble falls Feb 2019 #2
How many rapists have stayed on the streets TexasBushwhacker Feb 2019 #15
How many of them are in elected and appointed political office or the police? marble falls Feb 2019 #17
Problem - drumpf himself is a rapist so thinks this shouldn't be a crime for rich white guys. lark Feb 2019 #3
Albuquerque had a similar horrible backlog of rape kits left-of-center2012 Feb 2019 #6
The statute of limitations should have no effect if LOE didn't do Delmette2.0 Feb 2019 #7
This sort of thing can lead to multi-level tragedies. cab67 Feb 2019 #9
There have been so many innocent victims because of unprocessed Delmette2.0 Feb 2019 #11
I would hope that this can be adjudicated. efhmc Feb 2019 #10
Yes, the victim cooperated and did everything they could. Delmette2.0 Feb 2019 #12
I agree. Hassin Bin Sober Feb 2019 #13
Your 3 sentence commentary is really pointed and powerful. Worth repeating Bernardo de La Paz Feb 2019 #8
Yep. It's a national tragedy. Hassin Bin Sober Feb 2019 #14
Why the hell were the tests not conducted immediately in the first place? cstanleytech Feb 2019 #16
Money and priorities according to End the Backlog OnlinePoker Feb 2019 #18
Priests and Southern Baptists SpezelEd Feb 2019 #19
Unacceptable Victor_c3 Feb 2019 #20
Need more women in power, and supporters of women. Fewer misogynists. Nt lostnfound Feb 2019 #23
We shouldn't be putting people's DNA in a computer. MadDAsHell Feb 2019 #24
Huh? Sgent Feb 2019 #26
We are Democrats. We don't defend violations of civil liberties at the victim's whim. nt MadDAsHell Feb 2019 #27
Gonna have to disagree with you Sgent Feb 2019 #28

dalton99a

(81,067 posts)
5. I believe the statute of limitations is 10 years for adult victims
Fri Feb 22, 2019, 11:03 AM
Feb 2019

and no statute of limitations for minors

okaawhatever

(9,453 posts)
22. In some jurisdictions they file "John Doe" warrants, which means they are charging the owner of the
Fri Feb 22, 2019, 04:02 PM
Feb 2019

DNA. (Or is some cases someone known by sight, but name unknown, like from a video of a crime). This usually stops the clock on statute of limitations.

marble falls

(56,358 posts)
2. This just an example of a national disgrace. It is a National Emergency. At one time over ...
Fri Feb 22, 2019, 10:52 AM
Feb 2019

400,000 kits nationwide hadn't been tested and some had been stored in conditions that degraded the evidence.


400,000 Untested Rape Kits – Nonprofits Take the Issue on
By Ruth McCambridge Ruth McCambridge | May 7, 2013

https://nonprofitquarterly.org/2013/05/07/400-000-untested-rape-kits-nonprofits-take-the-issue-on/

May 2, 2013; Medill Reports

Conversations in this sector focus so unrelentingly on innovation, sometimes we might forget that unless we monitor the implementation of hard-won legislative change, the effort will falter. In the realm of violence against women, Julie Smolyansky recently launched a nonprofit organization to raise awareness and promote solutions for the high number of untested rape kits that remain in police departments across the country, specifically in Cook County.

Julie Smolyansky is the CEO of Lifeway Foods in Morton Grove, Illinois, but she is also a certified rape counselor and now the founder of Test400k. The name refers to the number of untested rape kits that, according to a Human Rights Watch Report, are in storage at police departments around the country.

Some of those kits which cost $1,200 apiece to test are as many as three decades old. “This is an extensive, pervasive problem,” Smolyansky said. “Every time a kit is not analyzed, the perpetrator is free to commit a crime over and over. Everyone is at risk.”

Some of the lack of testing may be due to formally dropped cases, but south of Chicago, for instance, the Markham and Robbins police departments have each recently sent 100 untested kits to labs according to Cara Smith who is a Senior Adviser to Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart. Smith said that the external advocacy is important. “A law was put into effect in 2010 that requires all police departments in Illinois to disclose how many untested rape kits are in their possession and how many will be submitted and not submitted for testing.”

In a posting from the Thomas Reuters Foundation, the problem of those “dropped” cases is addressed by Sarah Tofte, director of policy and advocacy at the Joyful Heart Foundation and author of the 2009 Human Rights Watch Report on untested rape kits in Los Angeles County, Calif., observes that the reasons that a case has been dropped may sit in the wide discretion afforded police officers. “Why are some cases left behind? Inevitably they come back, over and over again, to (the detectives’) opinion of the victim, her value to speak, her worth, her position in our society and how likely she is to be believed.” This provides a compelling case, she says, for mandating testing. “Law enforcement agencies say the number one reason they don’t process kits is lack of resources. I would say, in my observations, that the number one reason is less about resources than will and the continued deficiencies in the way that law enforcement in a lot of jurisdictions treat sexual assault cases,” Tofte said. The Joyful Heart Foundation, founded by actress Mariska Hargitay, is advocating for state laws requiring that all rape kits be processed and the creation of a national database.

Test 400K is working with testing firms to ensure that they will provide discounts to police departments that need to process a backlog. Smolyansky points out that “(t)here should be some kind of scanning code that can track where the package is at any time. We order something on Amazon and we know where it is at any given moment, but sometimes we lose the most precious evidence in our state…We can claim budgetary problems, but the issue of rape is stigmatized. Women’s words are never counted. This backlog is symbolic of a bigger cultural issue.” – Ruth McCambridge

TexasBushwhacker

(20,043 posts)
15. How many rapists have stayed on the streets
Fri Feb 22, 2019, 12:53 PM
Feb 2019

because of these untested rape kits? This is a national disgrace and shows that women's lives and safety just aren't a priority.

lark

(23,003 posts)
3. Problem - drumpf himself is a rapist so thinks this shouldn't be a crime for rich white guys.
Fri Feb 22, 2019, 10:56 AM
Feb 2019

Only minority rape should be prosecuted, according to him.

left-of-center2012

(34,195 posts)
6. Albuquerque had a similar horrible backlog of rape kits
Fri Feb 22, 2019, 11:03 AM
Feb 2019

A republican mayor and republican governor refused to provide the necessary funding.

Now we have a democratic mayor and governor and the tests are being done.

Delmette2.0

(4,143 posts)
7. The statute of limitations should have no effect if LOE didn't do
Fri Feb 22, 2019, 11:52 AM
Feb 2019

their part in following up by testing the rape kit.

cab67

(2,963 posts)
9. This sort of thing can lead to multi-level tragedies.
Fri Feb 22, 2019, 12:24 PM
Feb 2019

In several cases, a DNA test not only identified the actual rapist, but excluded someone who'd been convicted of the crime.

The exoneree lost much, the actual criminal cannot be prosecuted, and the victim/survivor is being re-victimized.

In at least one case, an innocent man in prison begged for a DNA test. It was refused until a new DA came into office. The statute of limitations had already lapsed, but the actual rapist had been convicted of a separate sexual assault. He was in prison when the exoneree-to-be first asked for a DNA test. By the time the new DA had the test done, the real perpetrator had been released on parole.

Delmette2.0

(4,143 posts)
11. There have been so many innocent victims because of unprocessed
Fri Feb 22, 2019, 12:34 PM
Feb 2019

rape kits. Local state and federal funding must be increased for this.

Bernardo de La Paz

(48,788 posts)
8. Your 3 sentence commentary is really pointed and powerful. Worth repeating
Fri Feb 22, 2019, 12:24 PM
Feb 2019

You want a national crisis? Untested rape kits are a national crisis. The number of violent criminals that would get taken off the street by doing this testing would be worth a hell of a lot more than the phantom criminals crossing the border.


Well stated, pertinent and deserving of a much wider audience than just one post.

Hassin Bin Sober

(26,272 posts)
14. Yep. It's a national tragedy.
Fri Feb 22, 2019, 12:52 PM
Feb 2019

This is one city out of hundreds.

How about a national laboratory for clearing and categorizing these kits?

OnlinePoker

(5,702 posts)
18. Money and priorities according to End the Backlog
Fri Feb 22, 2019, 01:19 PM
Feb 2019

From the list at my link below, it says it costs $1000-$1500 to test each kit. In Austin's case, this would come to $2.6 to $3.9 million to test all of them. In the link in my OP, it also says Austin's lab was shut down for a time after audits showed problems with their testing procedures. I like Hassin Bin Sober's suggestion of a national lab. Not only would it standardize procedures of testing across all jurisdictions, but information could be entered into the national database immediately to find matches in other regions.

http://www.endthebacklog.org/backlog/why-backlog-exists

Sgent

(5,857 posts)
26. Huh?
Sat Feb 23, 2019, 11:22 AM
Feb 2019

If you rape me I can turn over any DNA you left behind to the police, what are you objecting to?

Sgent

(5,857 posts)
28. Gonna have to disagree with you
Sat Feb 23, 2019, 01:50 PM
Feb 2019

and their semen is collected as part of the rape kit done when I go to the hospital, I can't see how this violates anything. We allow dusting for prints and scraping skin from under fingernails of strangulation of murder victims.

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