(COLUMBUS, Ohio) -- Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine announced today that forensic scientists with the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation (BCI) have tested more than 5,000 sexual assault kits as part of a special initiative to test rape kits that had never before been tested for DNA.
As of October 1, 2014, BCI forensic scientists have tested 5,023 rape kits as part of Attorney General DeWine's Sexual Assault Kit (SAK) Testing Initiative. The DNA testing has resulted in 1,861 hits to DNA already in the Combined DNA Index System (CODIS).
"Each one of the kits submitted to us represents a victim who deserves to have the evidence in his or her case thoroughly examined, no matter how long ago the crime occurred," said Attorney General DeWine. "My office made it a priority to test these kits as quickly as possible, and we have surpassed our own goals by testing these kits faster than initially anticipated."
October marks the start of the third year of DNA testing in connection with the special initiative. BCI scientists surpassed the testing goals for both the first and second years of the initiative.
Attorney General DeWine launched the initiative after learning that dozens of law enforcement agencies across the state were in possession of rape kits, some of which were decades old, that had never been sent to a DNA lab for testing. Attorney General DeWine then made an open call to law enforcement to send their kits to BCI for DNA testing free of charge.
In Cuyahoga County alone, those with the county prosecutor's office report that more than 200 people have been indicted thanks to testing conducted as part of the SAK Testing Initiative. In a CBS News report focusing on the success of the initiative which aired this morning, a Cleveland rape survivor who was attacked in the early 1990s was asked how her life has changed since her attacker's recent conviction. The woman told CBS News, "I feel blessed. No more wondering. Now I know."
In all, 144 law enforcement agencies have submitted a total of 8,899 kits from their evidence rooms for testing as part of the initiative. To handle the influx of the thousands of kits, Attorney General DeWine hired ten additional forensic scientists to ensure the kits' timely analysis without slowing down the testing of kits associated with recent crimes. Since Attorney General DeWine took office in 2011, BCI has tested 5,897 rape kits as part of their normal casework.
Despite a marked increase in overall cases submitted to BCI for forensic testing, Attorney General DeWine has lowered turnaround time to an average of 22.5 days in September 2014, which is a significant decrease from December 2010, when it took BCI an average of 125 days to return DNA testing results to investigating law enforcement agencies.
This morning's CBS News report on the SAK Testing Initiative is online at www.cbs.com.
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