New Mexico

According to the Department of Public Safety’s Forensic Laboratory, New Mexico has 701 kits awaiting testing, a 42% increase since August 2024, with an average testing turnaround time of 415 days, exceeding the state’s 180-day testing mandate.

In 2024, the U.S. Department of Justice Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) awarded the New Mexico Second Judicial District Attorney’s Office $1.5 million to enhance activities supported by previous SAKI funding.

According to a news article in August 2024, 770 kits have been submitted for testing since 2023. As of August 2024, 396 kits are still awaiting testing, and 178 of those kits have been at the lab for more than 180 days.

According to information from internal sources there were 210 untested kits in New Mexico in 2023.

In 2023, BJA awarded the Albuquerque Police Department $2.25 million to sustain their work on rape kit reform and to inventory all unresolved cold case crimes.

In 2022, BJA awarded the Second Judicial District Attorney $1.5 million to sustain its work.

In April 2021, Albuquerque Mayor Tim Keller announced that all previously backlogged kits in Albuquerque and Bernalillo County had been tested.

In 2020, BJA awarded the Second Judicial District Attorney $2,141,147 to sustain its work, with an additional $993,979 to investigate and prosecute cold case sexual assaults. The BJA also awarded the New Mexico Department of Public Safety $2,141,147 to assist multidisciplinary community response teams and develop and optimize policies and procedures to support a coordinated response to processing SAKs.

In 2020, New Mexico’s rape kit tracking system went live.

In 2019, New Mexico legislators enacted HB135 to create the Sexual Assault Survivor’s Bill of Rights. Law enforcement officials must inform survivors that they have a right to know if their kit has been tested, the date results are expected, if a DNA profile was developed, if there was a DNA match, and information regarding the statewide rape kit tracking system. In cases where the offender has not been identified, law enforcement must notify survivors 180 days before the destruction of their rape kit and provide information on how to appeal this decision. Before interviewing a survivor, law enforcement must provide the survivor with a document informing them of their rights. Additionally, this law requires state crime labs to test kits within 180 days of receipt.

In 2019, BJA awarded the Albuquerque Police Department and the New Mexico Crime Victims Reparation Commission $999,999 and $1 million respectively to sustain their work on rape kit reform.

In 2018, New Mexico legislators introduced SB133 and HB231, which would have mandated biennial inventory reports of rape kits in the custody of law enforcement agencies statewide, and would granted sexual assault survivors the right to notice regarding rape kit testing status and results. These bills failed to pass.

Also in 2018, BJA awarded the New Mexico Second Judicial District Attorney $1 million to test kits, investigate and prosecute cases, and re-engage survivors in the criminal justice system.

In 2017, BJA awarded the Albuquerque Police Department (ADP) $2,499,796 to support a coordinated response to the local backlog, address APD-specific factors that contributed to the backlog of untested rape kits in the city, and support the prosecution of backlog-related cases.

In 2017, the Albuquerque City Council enacted R-16-143, a resolution that would require the Albuquerque Police Department (APD) to submit all newly collected kits to a crime lab within 10 business days, and would require labs to test kits within three months of receipt. If APD is unable to meet these deadlines, the chief of police must contract with outside laboratories for analysis. The resolution also requires the chief of police to report annually regarding the number of rape kits collected, the number of rape kits awaiting submission or testing, and the average number of days between kit submission and testing. Since the majority of the state’s rape kit backlog originated in Albuquerque, this measure was an important step toward statewide reform. Read our letter of support.

SB474 requires the Department of Public Safety to assist local crime labs with backlogs of untested rape kits.

SB475 requires law enforcement agencies to submit all newly collected rape kits to the lab within 30 days of receipt, and requires labs to report annually if they have 300 or more rape kits awaiting testing at the end of the previous fiscal year. Read Joyful Heart’s letter of support.

HB536 created a voluntary donation program to enable New Mexicans to donate to the testing of backlogged rape kits through their state tax filings.

In 2016, the New Mexico state auditor released a report investigating the backlog in New Mexico, and announcing a total of 5,440 untested rape kits across the state.

In 2016, legislators approved resolution SM50, establishing a task force to address the untested rape kit backlog in New Mexico.

Legislators also appropriated $1.2 million to test backlogged rape kits.

In 2016, the U.S. Department of Justice Bureau of Justice Assistance awarded the New Mexico Department of Public Safety $1,999,940 to process more than 1,500 unsubmitted kits, investigate and prosecute cases, and re-engage survivors.

In 2014, The Accountability Project issued an open records request to bring the number of untested rape kits in Albuquerque to light. Through this request, we uncovered a backlog of 835 untested kits in Albuquerque.