2015 FOIA Request
Why did we send the FOIA?
In 2015, Joyful Heart issued public records requests to 22 medium sized jurisdictions for which we did not have any or had very little information about their untested rape kits.
What did we discover?
Through our efforts, we have learned that the Durham Police Department (DPD) had a total of 2,686 rape kits in inventory as of December 2015. Further correspondence with DPD revealed that the agency does not know how many of these kits remain untested. As such, we were unable to ascertain the status of the 2,686 kits DPD reported in inventory. In February 2018, the state crime laboratory reported finding 15,160 untested rape kits in law enforcement custody across North Carolina. DPD reported 1,711 untested rape kits in this audit.
More Accountability Targets in North Carolina
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.