Wisconsin’s Untested Rape Kits: Only 9 Cleared Under $4M Grant

Since receiving $4 million in grants 16 months ago to clear a backlog of 6,000 untested rape kits, Wisconsin Attorney General Brad Schimel’s office has tested only nine, despite earlier assertions that “a few hundred” of the kits had been tested, according to reports. Another 200 are currently being tested after U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin, D-Wisconsin, said last fall the state’s progress was “unacceptable” and that Wisconsin residents “deserve better.”

Wisconsin certainly isn’t alone. Nationally, tens of thousands of sexual assault kits have languished, which advocates say sends a message to victims of sexual violence that what happened to them doesn’t matter.
The U.S. Department of Justice and the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office in New York have together provided $79 million in grant funding nationally to help states process the rape kits and send a different message.

In her Oct. 4, 2016, letter to Schimel, Baldwin said it is “critical that victims of sexual assault across the country receive the swift and thorough justice they deserve.”

“Unfortunately, in Wisconsin, those victims, their families and their communities appear little closer to obtaining justice than they were last July,” Baldwin wrote.

Almost four months later, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported the state is seeking more grant funding to cover the costs of the testing of the kits, which contain DNA and other forensic evidence collected from the victim at hospitals. Testing costs about $1,000 per kit.

Schimel spokesman Rebecca Ballweg told the Journal Sentinel in an email that rape kit testing is on a fast track, but authorities won’t act “recklessly.” She denied any “insinuation” that the Wisconsin Department of Justice “has been sitting on the grant funding and not taken action to test untested kits is a disservice to survivors and recklessly ignores what was intended when the grant funds were made available.”

Ballweg said the private lab the Wisconsin DOJ uses for testing allows 200 rape kits per month, and the state DOJ “will be sending 200 kits to the lab per month until all kits are tested.”

The discovery of the 6,000 Wisconsin untested sexual assault kits occurred in 2014. This week, Schimel’s office announced a victim-centered campaign called “By Your Side.” The outreach effort encourages sexual violence survivors to track the progress of rape kit testing by calling (800) 446-6564 or by going to the By Your Side website to locate their kits. The campaign also connects them with support services.

“The criminal justice system relies on the courage of sexual assault survivors to catch perpetrators of sexual assault,” Schimel said in a statement, noting that the state DOJ, the Wisconsin Coalition Against Sexual Assault and its other partners around the state “want survivors to know that we are here to support and empower them through this process.”

The 6,000 untested rape kits include 1,600 in Milwaukee. Various explanations have been offered, the Journal Sentinel reported. In some cases, charges were dropped and in others, prosecutors determined the testing wasn’t necessary to get a conviction. The kits were kept around in case charges resurfaced or they were needed in an appeal.

In nearby states, testing has resulted in the conviction of serial rapists, some of them with crimes that go back decades. In Detroit, Michigan, where 11,000 forgotten rape kits were discovered in a police storage facility in 2009, some 770 serial rapists have been identified and connected to crimes in 39 states. More than 60 people have been prosecuted so far.

In November, Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine said about 11,800 of some 13,300 rape kits had been tested. DeWine’s office says that has led to nearly 4,300 matches in a DNA index system and “hundreds” of indictments, some going back decades.