They’re
called “rape kits,” samples of biological evidence collected in hospitals from
victims of sexual assault. After collection, the kits are turned over to law
enforcement agencies for DNA analysis, in hopes of identifying the perpetrator.
But in recent years, a lack of funds
to process the kits has created a massive backlog nationwide. Former New York
City Police Commissioner Howard Safir, a vocal advocate for testing the kits,
estimates there are between 300,000 to 500,000 evidence samples sitting in
storage, gathering dust, in police departments across the country. At one
point, New York City’s backlog reached 16,000 — it’s since shrunk to about
4,000.
Assemblywoman Susan John, another
advocate, estimates there are still approximately 12,000 untested kits in the
state. Harvey Van Hoven, director of the Monroe County Crime Lab, doesn’t know
how many untested kits are being stored at his facility and the 52 different
police agencies the lab serves in the region, but says there are “not
thousands.”
“Some agencies we service have kits
that haven’t been submitted,” Van Hoven says. He says a survey of the backlog
is forthcoming.
Thanks to a
$5.3 million federal grant awarded to New York State this fall, funding
to test some of the backlogged kits is also forthcoming.
The grant is part of a $125 million
fund established in 2000 by the DNA Analysis Back Log Elimination Act, a law
co-authored by Democratic Rep. Anthony Weiner of New York City.
Of New York’s $5.3 million, the
Monroe County Crime Lab will receive $1.2 million. The money will allow the lab
to hire more staff and purchase more equipment.
John Hicks, director of the state’s
Office of Forensic Services, says Monroe County will be able to send DNA
evidence from 500 cases to the state crime lab for testing as a result of the
funding.
Analyzing the DNA evidence in rape
kits costs between $500 and $1,000, says local activist Thera Clark. For the
cost of one B-1 Bomber, all the rape kits in the county could be tested, she
says.
Frustrated by a lack of progress on
the issue, Clark made funding for rape-kit testing the central issue of her
attempt to challenge Assemblywoman John on the Green Party line this year.
(Clark failed to collect enough signatures to get on the ballot.) She’s
continued to advocate for the cause.
“If you tell [rape victims] that we
don’t have enough funding, that your rapist is still walking down the same
street as you, that’s a form of terrorism,” Clark says.
The federal
grant is specifically intended to help solve cases in which DNA evidence exists, but
no suspect has yet been identified. If there is a suspect, court deadlines
usually put testing of a rape kit on the fast track.
As part of the grant process, Hicks
says the state identified 3,146 no-suspect cases, including both rapes and
homicides (about 60 percent of the cases involved rape kits).
Beginning in 1996, individuals
convicted of homicide and certain sex-related crimes in New York were required
to have their DNA collected and entered into a statewide data bank. In 1999,
Governor Pataki expanded that requirement to include a wider range of violent
felony offenses — such as assault, armed robbery, and burglary.
The state now has over 100,000 DNA
profiles culled from convicts in its data bank, Hicks says. Another 6,408
evidence samples have been collected in what’s called “the forensic unknown
file” — DNA samples, presumed to be those of a perpetrator, recovered from a
crime scene.
Checking the 3,146 no-suspect
samples against the DNA profiles in the state data bank has resulted in 605
“hits” so far, Hicks says. About 65 percent of those DNA matches came from rape
kits.
A study of the first 100 matches
found that, on average, convicts linked to the crimes had a dozen or more prior
convictions, but not necessarily for crimes that require a DNA sample be taken.
“The point of that [study] was that
the criminals don’t necessarily specialize,” Hicks says. “A rapist is not just
always a rapist.” For example, “a burglar may become a rapist,” Hicks says, in
the process of committing that lesser crime.
That fact provides “probably the strongest
argument to consider expanding the data bank,” Hicks says.
Pataki has proposed requiring all
convicted felons to provide DNA samples. Under current law, individuals
convicted of second-degree sex abuse, attempted rape, or rape in the second and
third degrees are not required to submit a DNA sample.
The Assembly has been reluctant to
agree to Pataki’s proposed expansion of DNA sampling, John says, given the
number of kits still untested.
“There’s not much sense in testing
more prisoners without having a way of linking up the tests that are being done
on the victims,” says Assemblyman David Koon, who adds that “taking a sample of
DNA should be as simple a thing as taking fingerprints.”
The grant “will make a big
difference” in reducing the backlog, Hicks says. Improvements to state crime
labs funded by the grant “will position the labs to turn out work much more
quickly than they now can and stay abreast of backlog cases.”
Clark, for one, will be watching
closely. “I’m going to keep beating this until it’s a dead horse.”
This article appears in Nov 27 – Dec 3, 2002.
