(COLUMBUS, Ohio)—Attorney General Mike DeWine today reminded Ohio's law enforcement authorities that they must submit any remaining sexual assault kits associated with investigations opened on or before March 23, 2015, to a crime laboratory for DNA testing by next week.
In a letter sent to law enforcement agencies today, Attorney General DeWine reminded authorities that if they do not submit any remaining previously untested rape kits by March 23, 2016, they will be out of compliance with Ohio law.
“I have been asking for agencies to submit these kits for testing since 2011, and that is why I fully expect that most, if not all, of these older sexual assault kits have already been submitted to either the Bureau of Criminal Investigation's lab or another lab for testing," said Attorney General DeWine. "Any agency that does still have kits should immediately contact BCI or their local lab before the deadline."
Senate Bill 316, which went into effect on March 23, 2015, requires law enforcement to submit the previously untested rape kits for DNA testing within one year of the bill's effective date. The bill 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.
This increased focus on the importance of submitting sexual assault kits for DNA testing came after Attorney General DeWine launched his Sexual Assault Kit (SAK) Testing Initiative in 2011, which resulted in the voluntary submission of thousands of untested kits.
As of March 1, 2016, 259 law enforcement agencies have submitted 12,449 kits to be tested as part of the initiative. Of those, 3,118 kits were submitted after Senate Bill 316 went into effect.
Attorney General DeWine recently announced that Bureau of Criminal Investigation (BCI) forensic scientists have tested more than 10,000 of the submitted kits, resulting in more than 3,600 hits in the Combined DNA Index System (CODIS). A group of ten scientists whose primary focus is to analyze kits submitted as part of the SAK Testing Initiative will continue to test kits submitted by the deadline until every kit has been analyzed for DNA. Once all kits submitted as part of the initiative have been tested, that staff will be reassigned to work daily casework at the BCI crime laboratory.
A copy of the letter sent by Attorney General DeWine to law enforcement today can be found on the Attorney General's website. A similar letter was sent in September.
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