Lisa Nuñez-Najera remembers the day law enforcement reached out to let her know that her sexual assault evidence kit had been processed.
The call came 12 years after she reported being raped.
“At that point, I was just like, ‘What? Why now? Why are we bringing this back?’ But another part of me was like, ‘Yes, finally. Finally, maybe there’s some answers. Finally, maybe someone listens.’”
Her experience is a common one for sexual assault survivors. Many states struggle with backlogs in testing sexual assault kits, also known as rape kits or SAKs, the physical evidence collected from victims after an assault. Because many jurisdictions have no mechanism for tracking SAKs, it is unknown how many are untested; but in 2024, the Joyful Heart Foundation, a nonprofit advocacy group, identified at least 225,000 untested kits in jurisdictions across the country.
Backlogs can happen at the local-level police department and at the state-level forensic laboratory. After evidence is collected from assault survivors, SAKs are booked into evidence, but the kits may not be sent to a lab for DNA testing because no charges are brought. Many kits remain in police evidence storage facilities. If the kits are sent to a lab, they can languish there due to a high volume of cases and a shortage of staff and funding to process them. Colorado’s new backlog dashboard indicates that the state has an assault kit turnaround time of about 560 days. When results from the kits are received, law enforcement may not have the staff or resources to follow up on any resulting leads.
Over the past several years, survivor stories like Nuñez-Najera’s have prompted states to work toward eliminating their backlogs.
Bans on Over-the-Counter Assault Kits
Protecting the integrity of sexual assault evidence is essential for accurately prosecuting cases. In recent years, the growing availability of at-home sexual assault kits has spurred controversy and litigation over potential evidence tampering, whether intentional or not. At least three states—Maryland, New Hampshire and Washington—have enacted bans on the sale of at-home and over-the-counter sexual assault kits because of potentially inaccurate reporting and the added barriers to victims’ access to treatment and resources. Georgia introduced, but did not pass, legislation to ban over-the-counter sexual assault kits in 2023 and has another bill pending this year.
In 2019, Washington legislators established the Sexual Assault Survivors’ Bill of Rights, which, among other things, created an advisory group within the attorney general’s office to recommend policies to eliminate the backlog of untested kits.
In 2021, the Legislature’s biannual budget appropriated $750,000 each year to law enforcement to process more kits. The funds also assist multidisciplinary community response teams seeking resolutions to cases tied to previously unsubmitted sexual assault kits, as well as support to survivors of sexual assault offenses. More money was appropriated to report on the backlog.
By 2023, Washington announced the clearance of its sexual assault kit backlog, testing over 10,000 kits. Of those tested, there were 2,100 “hits” in CODIS, the national DNA database, and the tested kits have helped solve at least 21 sexual assault cases and counting.
When Washington Rep. Tina Orwall (D) first heard of the backlog, she says she was shocked to learn that thousands of sexual assault kits remained untested.
“Now, with a system in place for the state to test every sexual assault kit within 45 days, we are supporting and empowering victims and survivors,” she says.
In 1979, a young woman was beaten and strangled at a campground near Lake Tahoe in California. Forty years later, Patricia Carnahan’s suspected killer was arrested with a DNA match from a recently tested sexual assault kit in Washington state. A separate kit, collected in 1994 in Spokane, Wash., and tested in 2023, linked the DNA to 63-year-old Harold Carpenter to both cases through CODIS.
The solving of Patricia Carnahan’s case underscores the importance of assault kit test results in solving cold cases and improving clearance rates. And research from Cuyahoga County, Ohio, shows that testing every kit can solve other crimes. In 2016, the testing of nearly 5,000 kits led to investigations, charges, prosecutions and more than 250 convictions.
Appropriations to Support Assault Kit Testing
State lawmakers have appropriated funds to support the reform of processes for testing sexual assault kits. According to Joyful Heart Foundation, “From 2013 to December 2024, 33 states and Washington, D.C., passed bills that grant state funds towards ending the backlog. These states allocated $241 million to end the backlog and to test more than 201,000 kits.”
Recently introduced Indiana legislation would create a rape kit backlog fund to help law enforcement agencies and testing labs in eliminate their inventories.
“Indiana crime labs are often unable to pay competitive wages, as the people working in these labs can get higher paying jobs with the degrees that they are required to receive,” says the bill’s sponsor, Rep. Becky Cash (R). The legislation would allow the fund to be used for buying equipment to process rape kits, hiring staff, providing competitive wages and paying the costs associated with streamlining processing of rape kits.
Sexual Assault Kit Tracking Systems
Pennsylvania and New Jersey are the latest states to enact laws requiring the creation of rape kit tracking systems. According to the Pennsylvania State Police, “The benefits of a robust tracking system for sexual assault kits are transparency and accountability. The real-time data available by having the ability to pull reports to ascertain how many kits have not been submitted for testing and where each kit resides within the system will also make agencies more accountable when kits are not submitted.”
Pennsylvania’s new tracking system allows victims to remain informed of their submitted samples, requires a help desk for survivors and allows survivors to opt in for notifications and status updates.
“The forensic evidence collected from rape kits is crucial to bringing offenders to justice, but delays in processing have plagued sexual assault survivors for years,” says Sen. Wayne Langerholc (R), the bill’s sponsor. “This system will ensure survivors receive transparency, assurance and accountability that their cases are being handled effectively.”
Another New Jersey bill enacted this year included provisions that require sexual assault survivors to be informed about developments in their cases, including whether an assailant’s DNA profile was obtained for their kit and whether it has been entered into or matched with any databank for the retention or comparison of case evidence.
Preventing a Backlog Going Forward
Some states, such as Washington and North Carolina, are enacting legislation setting standards to make sure backlogs don’t happen again. North Carolina’s 2019 Survivor’s Act requires a medical facility or other agency collecting kits to notify law enforcement within 24 hours of collection. Law enforcement then must pick up the kit within seven days and submit it to the crime lab within 45 days. Additionally, every kit submitted to a lab will be analyzed to develop DNA profiles that are eligible for entry into CODIS.
Jessica Guarino is a policy analyst and Anne Teigen is an associate director in NCSL’s Civil and Criminal Justice Program.