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   Debbie Smith became an advocate for the testing of rape kits -- and her   
   advocacy became federal law. The "Debbie Smith Act" provides grants to local   
   and state law enforcement to process their rape kit backlogs.ID=29926783   
      
   ID=26898889After a sexual assault or rape, a victim is asked to undergo an   
   examination to collect any forensic evidence left behind from the assault. The   
   examiner, usually a doctor or nurse, preserves the evidence in a medical kit.   
      
   The kits have proven to be successful in sexual assault investigations and   
   prosecutions. The kits can also lead to new DNA matches in the criminal   
   database and the identification of serial rapists. For example, the White   
   House said that a testing of 2,   
   000 kits in a pilot program resulted in 760 DNA matches, identified 188 serial   
   offenders and led to 15 convictions.   
      
   According to the White House, the kit consists of swabs, tubes, glass slides,   
   containers and plastic bags. Those items collect and preserve forensic   
   evidence left behind by the perpetrator, including clothing fibers, hair, and   
   bodily fluids. Those can be    
   used to identify DNA and other evidence left behind by the attacker. After   
   collection, the evidence is carefully packaged and labeled.   
      
   According to EndTheBacklog, a program from the non-profit group Joyful Heart   
   Foundation, contents of the kits can vary by state. Most kits include:   
      
   Detailed instructions for the examiner   
   Forms for documenting the procedure and evidence gathered   
   Tubes and containers for blood and urine samples   
   Paper bags for collecting clothing and other physical evidence   
   Swabs for biological evidence collection   
   A large sheet of paper on which the victim undresses to collect hairs and   
   fibers   
   Dental floss and wooden sticks for fingernail scrapings   
   Glass slides   
   Sterile water and saline   
   Envelopes, boxes and labels for each of the various stages of the exam   
   Under the Violence Against Women and Department of Justice Reauthorization Act   
   of 2005, states must ensure that victims have access to the forensic medical   
   exams free of charge (or with full reimbursement) -- even if the victim   
   decides not to cooperate    
   with law enforcement investigators, according to the Rape Abuse and Incest   
   National Network.   
      
   The backlog exists for a number of reasons.   
      
   According to the National Institute of Justice, the demand for DNA analyses   
   has increased without a corresponding growth in forensic lab capacity. In   
   2011, the NIJ estimated that about 350,000 rape and homicide cases awaited DNA   
   testing. Many of those    
   samples were in control of law enforcement agencies rather than in crime labs.   
      
   The NIJ's DNA task force says state and local crime labs lacked sufficient   
   numbers of trained forensic scientists. Those governments lack the resources   
   to hire trained scientists. Even when funds are available, the pool from which   
   to hire scientists is    
   often small. That shortage is due, in part, to college forensic science   
   curriculums that lack the basic science courses for the job. Newly-hired   
   scientists must often undergo significant training before they are able to   
   conduct DNA analyses. Contributing    
   to the shortage is the fact that public crime lab salaries are often below   
   those offered in the private sector, according to the NIJ.   
      
   Additionally, most state and local crime labs lack the equipment needed to   
   complete the task, according to the NIJ. They also lack the space to store   
   that equipment even if they did have it.   
      
   Costs play a role in the backlog. It costs between $500 and $1,200 to test   
   each kit, according to the National Center for Victims of Crime.   
      
   A USA TODAY investigation found that sexual assault kit testing practices are   
   often arbitrary and inconsistent between law enforcement agencies -- and even   
   within agencies themselves.   
      
   In most states and at most law enforcement agencies, there are no written   
   guidelines for processing sexual assault kits. Testing decisions in each case   
   are left to the discretion of investigating officers, leading to widespread   
   inconsistencies in testing    
   practices.   
      
   Despite the fact that adding the DNA information of an offender into state and   
   national databases can help identify predators moving across jurisdictions,   
   USA TODAY's investigation found that many police agencies treat sexual assault   
   kits only in regards    
   to individual cases.   
      
   In interviews with USA TODAY, officials said the most common reasons why kits   
   are not tested are because there is not a prosecutable case, usually due to a   
   lack of cooperation from sexual assault survivors.   
      
   Some law enforcement officials have even defended leaving the kits untested,   
   citing the costs could deflect from other needs of the departments, and saying   
   that testing all kits could slow down the process for those needing urgent   
   testing.   
      
   In some cases, the sexual assault survivor's cooperation is not at issue.   
   Records reviewed by USA TODAY show dozens of untested sexual assault kits come   
   from cases involving children. Records from the Dallas Police Department show   
   43 of the agency's 4,   
   140 untested sexual assault kits dating back to 1996 were collected from   
   children, some as young as 12 years old.   
      
   ID=30137971[Mobile users: Click here to look up the number of sexual assault   
   kits held by agencies in your state]   
      
   Forty-four states have no laws stipulating when police agencies should send   
   kits for testing. In 34 states, no statewide inventory of untested kits has   
   been conducted, the USA Today investigation found.   
      
   Many state oversight agencies and authorities have initiated efforts to count   
   the number of untested sexual assault kits in their jurisdictions.   
      
   State laws requiring department-by-department audits or inventories of   
   untested sexual assault kits have been enacted in recent years in Colorado,   
   Hawaii, Illinois, Kansas, Louisiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, Tennessee,   
   Texas and Virginia. Some of    
   these audits have been complete, while others are ongoing.   
      
   Additionally, informal counts have been conducted, or are being conducted by   
   agencies in Kansas, Massachusetts, New Mexico, Washington, Wisconsin and   
   Wyoming — even though there is no official state legislation on the books   
   requiring inventories or    
   setting the parameters for them.   
      
   New York's Department of Criminal Justice Services conducted a limited,   
   informal survey of 213 law enforcement agencies after receiving a request from   
   USA TODAY for this report.   
      
   For the rest of the country, including Florida, Arizona, and North Carolina,   
   the number of untested sexual assault kits isn't known.   
      
   Advocacy groups say an inventory in every state is one of the most important   
   steps toward solving the nation's untested rape kit problem.   
      
   "The nation needs to know the extent of this problem," Mai Fernandez,   
   executive director of the National Crime Victims Center, a Washington,   
   D.C.-based non-profit told USA Today. "Otherwise we cannot put a plan together   
   to really address it."   
      
   Hundreds of sexual assault kits remain untested in the metro Atlanta area,   
   including 295 in Cobb County and 104 in Gwinnett County.   
      
   The Georgia Bureau of Investigation said it has a backlog of another 270. Some   
   of those kits date back to the 1980s.   
      
   Georgia Rep. Scott Holcomb, along with Rep. Stacey Abrams, have introduced a   
   bill that would require police to send kits to the GBI.   
      
   "Basically to do a statewide inventory," Holcomb said. "Let's identify the   
   problem."   
      
      
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