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 San Jose Police Department provided data from 2000-2018. The Department collected 1956 SAKs, of which 1216 were tested, 735 not tested (18 of the untested kits were non-investigative and the victim was deceased in one case), and one kit was destroyed in 2020. The Department did not provide any data regarding destroyed kits from before 2012. In total, the Department has 754 backlogged kits. The ratio of untested kits to tested kits did not change much in the given time period. However, the number of collected kits significantly increased over the years (from 52 in 2000 to 189 in 2020).
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?
The San Jose Police Department (SJPD) has not fully responded to our request. Through our efforts, we discovered that SJPD did not have an evidence tracking system for rape kits until mid-2012, and it appears that SJPD does not know how many rape kits were received into evidence before then. SJPD did report to us that, as of January 1, 2016, the department will submit all newly collected kits to the lab for testing.
More Accountability Targets in California
Bakersfield, CAConcord, CACorona, CAFremont, CAFresno, CAFullerton, CAGarden Grove, CAGlendale, CAHayward, CALong Beach, CAOrange, CAOxnard, CAPasadena, CAPomona, CARedding, CASacramento, CASalinas, CASan Bernardino, CASan Diego, 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.