Nearly 14,000 Untested Rape Kits From Around Ohio Submitted to Attorney General

COLUMBUS, OH - More than 290 law enforcement agencies have submitted 13,930 rape kits to be tested as part of the Sexual Assault Kit (SAK) Testing Initiative. That's up from 13,908 on August 1, 2016.

As of October 1, 2016, forensic scientists with the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation (BCI) have completed testing on a total of 11,809 kits, resulting in 4,257 hits in the Combined DNA Index System (CODIS). In Cuyahoga County alone, 527 defendants have been indicted following DNA testing conducted as part of the effort.

Following a number of controversies involving untested rape kits, the state passed Senate Bill 316. The bill, which went into effect in March 2015, required Ohio law enforcement agencies to submit any remaining previously untested sexual assault kits associated with a past crime to a crime laboratory by March 23, 2016. Of the nearly 14,000 kits submitted to BCI as part of the SAK Testing Initiative, 4,600 were submitted after the law went into effect. The law also requires that all newly collected rape kits be submitted to a crime lab within 30 days after law enforcement determines a crime has been committed.

Attorney General Mike DeWine launched the SAK initiative in 2011 after learning that many law enforcement agencies across the state were in possession of rape kits, some of which were decades old, that had never been sent to a DNA lab for testing. DeWine then made an open call to law enforcement to send their kits to BCI for DNA testing at no cost to them.

To ensure the timely analysis of the thousands of kits submitted as part of the SAK Testing Initiative, DeWine hired 10 additional forensic scientists. Older kits are tested as quickly as possible, without slowing down the testing of the more than 11,000 rape kits associated with recent crimes tested by BCI as part of their regular casework since 2011.

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