2020 FOIA Request
Why did we send the FOIA?
In 2020, California Attorney General Xavier Becerra released a report, announcing at least 13,929 untested kits in the state. Pursuant to AB 3118, the Department of Justice is mandated to collect information from all law enforcement agencies (LEAs), “medical facilities, crime laboratories, and any other facility that maintains, stores, or preserves sexual assault kits.” However, only 149 LEAs and crime labs out of 708 submitted data, and we still do not know the extent of the backlog in California. To shed light on the true extent of the backlog in California, through The Accountability Project, Joyful Heart has issued public records requests to police departments in the 21 largest cities in California that have not participated in the inventory.
What did we discover?
The Corona Police Department (CPD) provided data from 2000-2020. According to the chart provided, 375 kits were collected, of which 173 were analyzed and 202 were not. 272 kits are currently in custody and 103 kits are destroyed. Up until 2014, CPD did not analyze most kits collected. In 2015, they started analyzing more. Since 2016, they have been analyzing almost all kits collected. Up until 2012, they have been destroying kits every year. Starting in 2013, they stopped this practice. AB1517 passed in 2014 strengthened this practice by encouraging law enforcement to submit kits to the lab within 20 days.
More Accountability Targets in California
Bakersfield, CAConcord, CAFremont, CAFresno, CAFullerton, CAGarden Grove, CAGlendale, CAHayward, CALong Beach, CAOrange, CAOxnard, CAPasadena, CAPomona, CARedding, CASacramento, CASalinas, CASan Bernardino, CASan Diego, CASan Jose, CASanta Barbara, CASanta Cruz, CASanta Monica, CASanta Rosa, CAShasta County, CASimi Valley, CAStockton, CATorrance, CAVallejo, CAVisalia, CA
Why Accountability?
Right now, we do not know the full extent of the national rape kit backlog because few states require law enforcement agencies to count, track, or test rape kits. The Accountability Project aims to bring greater transparency and accountability to rape kit testing practices across the country.