A lot of people have been outraged rape kits have yet to be tested in the state of Florida. That outrage has also been a driving force in an effort to make sure certain State Attorney’s are not re-elected this year.
On Thursday, Governor Rick Scott was joined by Attorney General Pam Bondi, Rep. Janet Adkins and other Florida lawmakers and advocates in Tampa as he signed legislation to reduce the turnaround time for the processing of rape kits.Under Bill 636 which was passed during this year’s legislative session, rape kits are to be submitted within 30 days to a crime lab and have to be tested within 120 days.
Numerous rape kits in the state of Florida have been waiting to be tested and while they are in a stalemate, victims are being victimized again. They are suffering from unnecessary anxiety that their attackers might come back because they have not been brought to justice. This type of negligence and disregard for victims is not only outrageous, it is unacceptable and it all came down to money.
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State Attorney’s offices were arguing they did not have the money to process the kits. Because of that, Bondi called on lawmakers to increase funding for crime labs to address the testing backlog.
To be fair, backlogs of rape kits are not just a Florida problem. It is a national problem. Jennifer Dritt, executive director of the Florida Council Against Sexual Violence said a lot of other jurisdictions have cleaned up their backlogs and have caught a number of rapists.
According to the Federal Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE), New York City in 2000 began to test its entire backlog and they found more than 2,000 DNA matches and 200 cold-case prosecutions. In Michigan, the Wayne County Prosecutor’s Office identified 188 potential serial rapists and obtained 15 convictions and in Houston, after they tested 6,663 rape kits, 850 DNA matches were found.FDLE also found money is not the only reason the kits were not tested. Sometimes victims declined to proceed with investigations, state attorney’s offices declined to prosecute and suspects plead guilty.
