JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – There are new developments in the state’s push to fix a problem with a backlog of untested rape kits.
State Representative Janet Adkins has filed a bill to get kits tested by the state lab within 30 days, but according to local law enforcement officials there’s a reason a lot of rape kits aren’t tested.
The bill is designed to help rape victims with their cases and get suspects identified, but there are issues. According to officials, rape cases aren’t always black and white and there are many reasons why they sometimes don’t test DNA evidence collected in rape cases.
The reasons vary from victim’s who fabricated a rape story, to suspects already arrested and convicted without using DNA and then there is the costs involved to test the kit anyways.
“It’s highly unlikely an innocent person would be put in the codis system,” Adkins said.
The state has discovered thousands of untested rape kits statewide. Authorities report in Jacksonville there are roughly 1,300 untested kits, in St. Johns County the number is 76, but this isn’t always because of a lack of manpower to get crimes solved.
St. Johns County Sheriff’s Office Cmdr. Chuck Mulligan shared his opinions on the issue.
“In law enforcement, there is no exact science and there is no two cases that will ever be the same,” Mulligan said. “For example, what do we do and what considerations do we give to the case where an individual has reported a sexual battery, only to find out a short time before the kit can be sent off for processing that in fact it was all made up? It was a manufactured story.”
Mulligan said cases like those could put the now innocent person in the FBI’s ‘codis’ system which checks them against other crimes. The only issue is a 30-day mandate would force a potentially innocent person into the system before law enforcement could finish investigating.
“None of these cases are active. None of them are being pursued for various reasons,” Mulligan said. “One of which is if the victim doesn’t want to pursue it. They don’t want it to go forward, they’re not willing to interview. They’re not willing to declare the occurrences sometimes of what happened.”
Representative Adkins said the legislation she’s proposing will be fully vetted to work through any problems that may arise.
Adkins added she’s worked with sheriffs and police associations as well as a rape crisis centers on devising this legislation.
Currently the bill has two more committees to review it in the House before it goes for a full House vote.