Test Rape Kits. Save Communities Millions.

Testing rape kits not only makes communities safer, it saves them millions of dollars. According to a study from the Begun Center for Violence Prevention Research and Education at Case Western Reserve University, testing just 4,300 previously unsubmitted kits in Cleveland saved $38.7 million, or $8,893 per tested rape kit.

Savings come from following up on DNA testing results with thorough investigations and prosecutions; in other words, by getting offenders off the street and thereby preventing future rapes.

Dr. Paul J. Speaker, a professor in the finance department of the John Chambers College of Business & Economics at West Virginia University, conducted research supported by a U.S. Department of Justice grant. In an End the Backlog blog, Dr. Speaker explains recent research showing testing backlogged rape kits could be one of the most beneficial investments for state legislatures, with the ability to produce an astonishingly positive return on investment (ROI) to society of up to 65,000%. To put this into perspective, an investment in the stock market has an average ROI for investors of about 10%.

The benefits from testing backlogged rape kits have demonstrated how much communities have to gain from testing all kits. Researchers have estimated that testing every rape kit could save states more than $400,000 per averted assault. As more kits are tested, more “matches” are made, and more serial offenders are identified. If more serial offenders are identified and prosecuted, future crimes are averted, producing savings to both would-be victims and communities, which save money on crime investigations and prosecutions in averted crimes. Additional research has shown that adding the DNA of just one offender to the federal DNA database provides savings to society that may be as high as $20,000 per submission.