A project conducted by researchers at Case Western Reserve University shows that the Ohio Attorney General’s Sexual Assault Kit (SAK) Testing Initiative not only brings criminals to justice, but also saves communities money in the long run.
Rachel Lovell, a researcher with the Begun Center for Violence Prevention Research and Education at Case Western, said the study of cases in Cuyahoga County showed that each conviction that results from the initiative amounts to a savings of $40,866.
The report — by Lovell and co-authors Daniel Flannery, also from the Begun Center, and Mendel Singer, of the faculty at the School of Medicine at Case Western — considers that for every four rape convictions, at least one rape is prevented. The scientists based their calculations on a conservative 25 percent chance of recidivism. (As many as a third of the SAK cases involve indicted serial offenders.)
Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine supports the research.
“Beyond the monetary savings for the community,” he said, “the research further validates the need to get these offenders off the streets to keep people safe.”
The work of the Sexual Assault Kit Task Force in Cuyahoga County was projected to save that community $38.7 million from the testing and investigation of the 4,347 rape kits tested as of Jan. 1.
“Our calculations are based on the established estimates of the tangible cost to the victim, such as medical expenses, lost workdays, out-of-pocket expenses, and intangibles, things like pain and suffering, decreased quality of life, and psychological distress,” Lovell said. “While our report is based on Cuyahoga County numbers, it could be representative of the state.”
According to the report, “In sum, the cost to the 4,347 sexual assault victims is $885.8 million; the total cost to test and investigate the SAKs is $9.6 million; the cost of future sexual assaults averted due to the SAK Task Force is $48.2 million, and the task force has brought a net savings to the community of $38.7 million.”
DeWine launched the statewide Sexual Assault Kit (SAK) Testing Initiative in 2011 after learning that many law enforcement agencies throughout the state were in possession of rape kits — some decades old — that had never been sent to a DNA lab for testing. DeWine made an open call to law enforcement to send their kits to the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation (BCI) at no cost.
Senate Bill 316, which went into effect in March 2015, required Ohio law enforcement agencies to submit any remaining previously untested sexual assault kits associated with a past crime to a crime laboratory by March 23, 2016. Of the more than 13,000 kits submitted to BCI as part of the SAK Testing Initiative, 4,559 were submitted after the law went into effect.
DeWine continues to urge agencies to submit their kits for testing and encourages law enforcement and prosecutors across the state to pursue these cases as aggressively as Cuyahoga County. The Attorney General’s Special Prosecution Section is available upon request to handle cases if local prosecutors need help, he said.
The report reinforces the need to not only test the kits, but also to pursue the suspects implicated by them. The savings is realized when jurisdictions do the follow-up and prosecute the cases, Lovell said.
According to the report, “The findings presented … have several important implications. First, sexual assault is extremely financially costly to victims and to the community. … Second, the cost to test and investigate the SAKs is significantly smaller than all other associated costs presented in this report. In fact, the task force is conservatively estimated to produce a net savings of $38.7 million — accounting for the cost of testing and investigating the SAKs and the savings associated with cost of averting future sexual assaults. This results in a cost savings of $8,893 for each SAK that is tested and investigated.”
The Cuyahoga County Sexual Assault Kit Pilot Research Project started in March 2015 at the request of Prosecutor Timothy McGinty, who used criminal forfeiture money to pay researchers to analyze data and make recommendations to the task force based on the findings. When that contract ran out in February 2016, a federal grant from the Bureau of Justice Assistance kicked in to pay for the research, which will continue until 2019.
As of July 1, a total of 4,055 matches to DNA profiles already in the Combined DNA Index System (CODIS) database have been obtained from 11,257 previously untested rape kits in the state. Authorities from 294 law enforcement agencies have sent a total 13,890 rape kits to BCI for testing as part of the special initiative.
In Cuyahoga County, 520 defendants had been indicted as of Aug. 19 following DNA testing conducted as part of the initiative and follow-up investigations conducted by the county’s task force.
"Our commitment is to test every rape kit," said Attorney General DeWine. "We owe it to the victims of these attacks, and we owe it to the public."
Report’s key findings:
- From the 4,347 kits tested as of Jan. 1, 2016, the scientists project a total of 1,290 indictments and 947 convictions.
- The total tangible and intangible cost to the victims associated with the tested kits as of Jan. 1 is $885.8 million.
- The total cost of testing and investigating the kits is estimated to be $9.6 million.
- The total cost savings of future sexual assaults averted due to the SAK Task Force as of Jan. 1, 2016 is $48.2 million.
- The SAK Task Force is projected to produce a net savings of $38.7 million to the community. Each SAK tested produces a net savings to the community of $8,893.