For years, rape victims in Colorado and in other states have seen their cases languish as evidence collected in so-called rape kits sat in police evidence rooms waiting for analysts to get to them. Backlogs numbered in the thousands.
So the announcement from the Colorado Bureau of Investigation that the comes as truly good news.
The CBI reported last week that it had cleared 3,542 cases and from that work submitted 1,556 profiles to the national DNA indexing system shared by law enforcement around the country. The effort followed in Colorado that committed $6.3 million to the task. The CBI worked with more than 250 state law enforcement agencies to clear the backlog. As if to add to the good news, the CBI performed the work well below cost and returned $3.3 million to the state budget.
The law resulted after years of work by advocates, attorneys and journalists to .
That the backlog existed was unconscionable for such a heinous crime. The process of collecting evidence from victims is invasive and traumatizing in and of itself. The known problem of delays in processing the evidence led some victims to decide to forgo the procedure, curtailing their chance at justice and allowing attackers dangerous freedom.
Because lawmakers in the 2013 law mandated testing of sexual assault evidence going forward, future victims will at least be able to know their attackers aren’t getting away, their trail growing colder, as evidence waits for analysis.
This and another law passed in Colorado this year, known as , which doubled the statute of limitations for rape charges to 20 years, suggest a new day has dawned on tough-minded prosecution of these crimes. But police note that sexual assault cases are on the rise, so going forward it will also be important not to let this accomplishment lead to complacency.
The Colorado Department of Public Safety’s executive director, Stan Hilkey, promised that Colorado would remain focused on testing going forward.
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