Minnesota

In 2023, the U.S. Department of Justice Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) awarded the Anoka County Sheriff’s Office $1,150,000 to complete the testing of the untested sexual assault kits identified in a 2015 statewide survey of untested SAKs by the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension.

In 2023, the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA) announced it had processed all 2,366 backlogged rape kits from the 2015 inventory, resulting in 357 DNA profile matches in the state’s database, and around 130 individuals who had not been previously identified in any cases. The Minneapolis Police Department also reported an extra 1,700 untested kits in 2019. BCA Superintendent Drew Evans said the BCA has gotten through 1,339 of those and the remaining ones will be completed by early next year.

According to the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, all kits identified in the 2015 inventory have been tested. The BCA has also tested 1,339 of 1,700 additional kits identified by the Minneapolis Police Department after the inventory was completed. This puts the backlog at 361. Testing of the remaining Minneapolis kits is anticipated to be completed early 2024.

In 2023, HF2890 was signed into law, allocating additional $4,500,000 the first year and $3,500,000 the second year to reduce turnaround timelines and the rape kit backlog. Under this bill, the state crime lab will “strive” for 90-day testing timeline. Costs of administering sexual assault exams shifted from the county, city, and private hospitals to the state, covered with $7.7 million allocated under this bill.

In 2023, legislators in Minnesota introduced HB2034. This bill would have mandated labs to have a 90 day turnaround for testing rape kits. This bill failed to pass.

In 2022, Minnesota’s rape kit tracking system went live.

According to the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, there are 2,498 untested kits of the 5,148 identified during a 2015 statewide inventory and a 2019 discovery by Minneapolis Police.

Department officials discovered an accounting error when they were reviewing cases in order to be in compliance with the 2018 law, HF3017. In February 2020, a local journalist’s investigation uncovered that 450 untested rape kits had been destroyed by law enforcement agencies.

In 2020, HF1 was signed into law, and Minnesota achieved the tracking and funding pillars of rape kit reform. The bill appropriated $3,096,000 in 2021 with an ongoing annual fund of $2,067,000 to pay for the testing and storage of kits and the development of a website​ for survivors. HF1 also eliminated language that previously allowed law enforcement to hold back certain kits from testing, requires the submitting agency to store unrestricted kits indefinitely, mandates the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension to store restricted kits for at least 30 months, and requires the Commissioner of Public Safety to maintain a website database providing survivors with information on the status of their kits.

In 2020, BJA awarded the City of Minneapolis Police Department $2 million to test kits, investigate and prosecute cases, and re-engage survivors. It also awarded the state of Minnesota $2 million to sustain its work on rape kit reform. The same year, BJA awarded the city of Duluth $662,659 to collect lawfully owed DNA samples from identified offenders, test the samples, and upload eligible DNA profiles into the Combined DNA Index System. It also provided an additional $678,502 to investigate and prosecute cold case sexual assaults. BJA awarded the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension $982,232 to track and report on rape kits.

In 2019, BJA awarded the city of Duluth and state of Minnesota $727,651 and $2 million respectively to sustain their work on rape kit reform.

In November 2019, the Minneapolis Police Department announced they had found nearly 1,700 untested kits, much higher than the 194 they reported in the 2015 inventory.

In 2018, Minnesota legislators passed HF3017, which mandated kit submission requirements for rape kits, granted survivors the right to notice regarding rape kit testing status, and increased evidence retention protections.

In 2018, BJA awarded the state of Minnesota $2 million to test kits, investigate and prosecute cases, and re-engage survivors. BJA awarded an additional $1 million to the city of Duluth to sustain its work in rape kit reform. In the same year, BJA awarded the city of Duluth with $626,835.

In 2017, BJA awarded the city of Duluth an additional $626,835 to test the remainder of their backlogged kits, improve efficiency of DNA analysis techniques, and support the investigation of backlog-related cases.

In 2017, Minnesota legislators introduced HF1877, which would have required prompt submission of newly collected rape kits and established a survivor’s right to information about their kit, but this bill failed to pass.

In 2016, BJA awarded the city of Duluth $444,152.

In 2015, Minnesota enacted SF1081, requiring the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA) to complete a one-time audit of untested rape kits.

In the same year, BCA announced that 171 police agencies had 3,482 untested rape kits.

In 2015, the U.S. Department of Justice Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) awarded the Duluth Police Department $1,011,096 to test kits, investigate and prosecute cases, and re-engage survivors.