2015 FOIA Request
FOIA Documents
Jurisdiction Type
City
Response
Untested Kits Discovered
153
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 Rochester Police Department (RPD) submitted 89% of all rape kits received between 2005 and 2015 to the lab for testing. As of October 2016, RPD reported 153 untested kits, which are being incrementally submitted to a federal lab for testing.
More Accountability Targets in New York
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.