Testing Previously Unsubmitted Sexual Assault Kits: What Are the Investigative Results?

• NCJ Number: 249297
• Journal: Criminal Justice Policy Review Volume: 26 Issue: 6 Dated: August 2015 Pages: 598-619
• Author(s): Seth Fallik; William Wells
• Date Published: August 2015
• Length: 22 pages
• DOI: 10.1177/0887403414528001
• Grant Number(s): 2011-DN-BX-0002
• Agencies: NIJ-Sponsored
• Publication Type: Research (Applied/Empirical)
• Award: Action Research to Enhance Investigations and Prosecutions of Sexual Assaults in Houston

Annotation

This study tested a sample of previously unsubmitted sexual assault kits to determine whether the kit contained evidence helpful to the prosecution of the case.

Abstract

Studies and local police jurisdictions have documented the existence of potentially valuable forensic evidence in sexual assault kits that have never been submitted to a crime laboratory for examination. The failure to analyze such potential evidence is concerning, because this may have prohibited case advancement in the criminal justice system. In examining a sample of unsubmitted sexual assault kits, the current study found that subsequent testing of these kits yielded no evidence that had a significant impact on the cases. (Publisher abstract modified)