​​The rape kit backlog is the result of the criminal justice system failing to take sexual assault seriously as the violent crime that it is. It represents a failure to prioritize protecting survivors, holding rapists accountable, and securing public safety.

Factors that lead to backlogs include:

Trivializing sexual assault

If department leaders do not prioritize rape cases, it is highly likely that these cases will be neglected. Law enforcement agencies often fail to dedicate the time and resources to sexual assault cases that other crimes receive. Too often, sex crime units are under-resourced and understaffed. This can lead to detectives’ inability to appropriately investigate every case and to the discarding of certain kinds of cases that they may not perceive as prosecutable. Crime labs are also under-resourced and this leads to long wait times even once the kit is at the crime lab.

Law enforcement bias

Negative stereotyping and victim-blaming beliefs are all too prevalent in our society, which affects how cases are handled. Research has shown that members of law enforcement disbelieve victims of sexual assault more than victims of any other type of crime and often blame them for the crime. In some cases, law enforcement closes the case before an investigation even truly begins.

Knowledge gaps

In many cases, lack of training about sexual assault and its impact on survivors, sex offenders, and forensic DNA can all impact whether a kit is submitted for testing. Because law enforcement professionals often don’t believe victims, understand serial rapists’ patterns, or understand the power of DNA evidence, they often do not send rape kits to crime labs for testing.

Lack of clear policies

Key actors such as hospitals, law enforcement agencies, and forensic labs may not have a uniform procedure to deal with rape kits after the sexual assault forensic exam. Without a clear policy outlining an appropriate timeline for the handling and processing of kits, many of these kits are lost, misplaced, destroyed prematurely, or end up sitting in police evidence rooms for years.