(COLUMBUS, Ohio) -- Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine sent a letter to Ohio law enforcement agencies today to remind authorities that the deadline to submit previously untested sexual assault kits to a crime laboratory for DNA testing as required by Senate Bill 316 is quickly approaching.
Senate Bill 316 went into effect six months ago on March 23, 2015. The law requires that Ohio law enforcement agencies submit any previously untested sexual assault kits associated with a past time to a crime laboratory within one year of the law's effective date.
"Law enforcement now has only six months remaining to submit any previously untested sexual assault kits for DNA testing in accordance with Ohio law," said Attorney General DeWine. "Many agencies have already submitted kits for testing, but more could be out there. I strongly encourage agencies that still have untested kits in their evidence rooms to submit them to a crime laboratory as soon as possible."
Senate Bill 316, which was sponsored by Senator Capri Cafaro (D-Hubbard), followed the launch of Attorney General DeWine's Sexual Assault Kit Testing Initiative in 2011 in which Attorney General DeWine requested that law enforcement agencies voluntarily submit to the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation (BCI) any rape kits associated with a crime that had not previously been sent to a crime lab for DNA testing.
As of September 1, 2015, 198 law enforcement agencies have submitted 10,764 previously untested sexual assault kits to BCI for DNA testing. Of those, 1,430 kits were submitted after Senate Bill 316 took effect. BCI forensic scientists have tested 8,416 of the kits submitted as part of the initiative so far, resulting in 3,121 hits in the Combined DNA Index System.
"This initiative has far surpassed my initial expectations," said Attorney General DeWine. "Hundreds of individuals have been indicted in connection with sexual assaults committed years ago, and the victims of these assaults are finally seeing their perpetrators being brought to justice."
In addition to requiring that previously untested sexual assault kits be submitted to a crime laboratory within one year, Senate Bill 316 also requires that all newly collected rape kits be submitted to a crime laboratory within 30 days after law enforcement determines a crime has been committed.
A copy of the letter sent by Attorney General DeWine to law enforcement today can be found on the Attorney General's website.
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