A Case Study of Police and Prosecution “Real Time” Adaptation to a Legislative Mandate to Test All Sexual Assault Kits

• In Event: New Findings on Sexual Violence Case Attrition: Progress and Recession in Bridging the Justice Gap

Abstract

This paper presents results from a study that examines the impact of sexual assault kit (SAK) testing for the presence of DNA on case attrition in one large metropolitan police jurisdiction. In this city, a new state law was implemented to mandate the testing of forensic evidence in all old (previously untested) SAKs and all new sexual assault case kits (“rape kits”) for which the victim consented to testing. This study examines the police department’s real time organizational and procedural adaptation to an unfunded mandate to test all kits. Analyses compare case attrition before mandated testing and after mandated testing was implemented and will determine the extent to which forensic testing pre and post mandate identifies persons with DNA profiles in the FBI’s Combined DNA Index System (CODIS).

Authors

• April Pattavina, University of Massachusetts Lowell

• Linda M. Williams, Wellesley Centers for Women

• Melissa Morabito, University of Massachusetts Lowell