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

• NCJ Number: 248725
• Author(s): Seth Fallik, William Wells
• Date Published: January 2014
• Length: 1 page
• Agencies: NIJ-Sponsored
• Award: Action Research to Enhance Investigations and Prosecutions of Sexual Assaults in Houston

Annotation

This study examined the possibility that the failure to analyze evidence may prohibit case advancement in the criminal justice system.

Abstract

This is a concern because studies of local police jurisdictions have documented the existence of potentially valuable forensic evidence that has never been submitted to a crime laboratory for examination. This study examined investigative activities that occurred after forensic screening of evidence that was not submitted for testing at the time of the original investigation. The study examined only sexual assault cases and found that testing had a minimal impact in this sample. (Publisher abstract modified)