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Testing Evidence in Sexual Assaults U.S U.S. Department of Justice Office of Justice Programs National Institute of Justice JUNE NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF JUSTICE 2016 SPECIAL REPORT Down the Road: Testing Evidence in Sexual Assaults U.S. Department of Justice Office of Justice Programs 810 Seventh St. N.W. Washington, DC 20531 Loretta E. Lynch Attorney General Karol V. Mason Assistant Attorney General Nancy Rodriguez, Ph.D. Director, National Institute of Justice This and other publications and products of the National Institute of Justice can be found at: National Institute of Justice Strengthen Science • Advance Justice http://www.nij.gov Office of Justice Programs Innovation • Partnerships • Safer Neighborhoods http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov The National Institute of Justice is the research, development and evaluation agency of the U.S. Department of Justice. NIJ’s mission is to advance scientific research, development and evaluation to enhance the administration of justice and public safety. The National Institute of Justice is a component of the Office of Justice Programs, which also includes the Bureau of Justice Assistance; the Bureau of Justice Statistics; the Office for Victims of Crime; the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention; and the Office of Sex Offender Sentencing, Monitoring, Apprehending, Registering, and Tracking. Opinions or points of view expressed in this document are those of the author and do not reflect the official position of the U.S. Department of Justice. Photo Sources: Science Photo Library, Shutterstock, Thinkstock JUNE NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF JUSTICE 2016 SPECIAL REPORT 810 Seventh St. N.W. Washington, DC 20531 Loretta E. Lynch Attorney General DOWN THE ROAD: Karol V. Mason TESTING EVIDENCE IN SEXUAL ASSAULTS Assistant Attorney General Nancy Rodriguez, Ph.D. BY NANCY RITTER Director, National Institute of Justice This and other publications and products of the National Institute of Justice can be found at: National Institute of Justice Strengthen Science • Advance Justice http://www.nij.gov Office of Justice Programs Innovation • Partnerships • Safer Neighborhoods http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov NCJ 249805 SPECIAL REPORT 3 TABLE OF CONTENTS Detroit and Houston: Catalysts for Change .............................................................. 6 Performing a Census of Previously Untested SAKs ................................................. 8 Why Were There So Many Previously Unsubmitted SAKs? ...................................... 10 Results of SAK Testing .............................................................................................. 13 Testing SAKs: All or Some? ....................................................................................... 17 Victim Notification ..................................................................................................... 21 Lessons for Other Jurisdictions ................................................................................ 26 Moving Forward ......................................................................................................... 28 Appendix .................................................................................................................... 31 A. How Forensic Science R&D Improves Justice in Sexual Assault Cases ......................................... 31 B. Increasing the Nation’s Capacity to Test DNA Evidence ............................................................ 32 C. Using Social Science to Improve the Nation’s Response to Sexual Assault .................................................. 33 National Institute of Justice | NIJ.gov DOWN THE ROAD: TESTING EVIDENCE IN SEXUAL ASSAULTS BY NANCY RITTER few years ago, NIJ published The Road Ahead: Unanalyzed Evidence in Sexual Assault Cases, a special report that explored Athe issue of untested sexual assault kits that were stored in law enforcement evidence facilities around the nation. Since then, we have learned a lot about the role of testing biological evidence in solving sexual assaults. This report, Down the Road: Testing Evidence in Sexual Assaults, discusses the results of recent studies supported by NIJ. Through scientific research, we have gained greater understanding that: • Although a sexual assault kit (SAK) may contain biological evidence — more than two-thirds of the cases in two recent studies did1 — there can be other important physical evidence that is not stored with the SAK, such as bedding, toxicology reports, In 2011, NIJ published The Road Ahead: Unanalyzed or weapons. Evidence in Sexual Assault Cases, which took stock of what was known at the time about unsubmitted sexual • One kit does not equal one biological sample: In assault kits. The report explored the critical gaps that an ongoing SAK-testing partnership between NIJ needed to be filled to help jurisdictions develop solutions and the FBI, for example, 597 kits (tested as of for a range of problems. To read the 2011 report, visit October 2015) contained 8,694 discreet biological NIJ.gov, keyword: 233279. samples; therefore, when speaking about the “number” of SAKs, it is important to keep in mind that each kit likely contains many separate pieces of evidence that could be tested to determine the identity of a suspect. • Although testing SAK evidence may lead to the identification of a suspect, evidence of serial rapes, 6 Down the Road: Testing Evidence in Sexual Assaults or the exoneration of a wrongly convicted person, it William Wells of Sam Houston State University, one of is only one part of the investigative process. Testing the lead researchers on the Houston project, said: may not result in a new lead if, for example, the identity of the suspect is already known or there is One of the first things we learned in Houston is not enough biological evidence in the kit to yield a that this problem is not just something for property DNA profile. rooms and crime labs to deal with. Although testing kits is part of the solution, it is only one part. Work- Some of the most recent scientific findings about the load then flows downstream — to investigators, role of evidence testing in sexual assaults come from prosecutors, and victim advocates — which is why two major NIJ-supported projects. After a competitive it is so important to think holistically in terms of a solicitation process, NIJ awarded research grants in system response. 2011 to the Houston Police Department (HPD) and the Wayne County (Detroit), Michigan, Prosecutor’s DETROIT AND HOUSTON: Office to form multidisciplinary teams to examine the issue of unsubmitted SAKs in their jurisdictions.2 (See CATALYSTS FOR CHANGE sidebar on page 7, The Teams.) The first goal for the multidisciplinary teams in Detroit and Houston was to determine how many SAKs NIJ’s goals were not only to help these had not been sent to the crime lab for testing and two jurisdictions and determine whether their why the problem developed. The teams were then experiences could help others, but also to better charged with creating plans for testing SAKs and understand the issue of untested SAKs in the larger notifying victims. context of improving the justice system’s response to sexual assault. Over the course of the four-year projects, the multidisciplinary teams were catalysts for change in Before we discuss the details of the Houston and these two very different American cities. Detroit research findings, however, it bears noting In Detroit, the multidisciplinary team played a role in: that these projects were played out against a larger backdrop as the national spotlight intensified on a • Performing a census of more than 11,000 seemingly inexplicably large number of SAKs that previously unsubmitted SAKs from sexual assaults were stored, untested, in law enforcement property that occurred from 1980 to 2009 rooms around the country. (See sidebar on page 11, • Identifying the “risk factors” that contributed to Unsubmitted SAKs: How Many Are There Nationwide?) the development of the large number of unsubmitted kits Although it has long been known that testing evidence for DNA in a rape kit does not automatically • Testing nearly 1,600 kits bring a rapist to justice, the “solution” to solving a • Developing, implementing, and evaluating a protocol sexual assault case is often framed only in terms for notifying victims of testing the kit. We know, as was borne out in the • Increasing collaboration among the entities that Detroit and Houston projects, that solving sexual work on sexual assault issues assault cases is much more complicated than simply • Training police and other practitioners to understand testing forensic evidence. Law enforcement must the neurobiology of trauma investigate to develop other potential evidence in the case, prosecutors must file charges, juries or judges • Developing victim advocacy partnerships must render verdicts, and judges must sentence — In Houston, the multidisciplinary team played a role in: and at every step along the way, the victims must • Forming a special squad in the HPD to investigate be supported. when suspects were identified through testing of previously unsubmitted SAKs National Institute of Justice | NIJ.gov SPECIAL REPORT 7 • Hiring a justice advocate in HPD’s Adult Sex • Creating a hotline for victims to obtain information Crimes Unit about their cases • Developing better techniques, based on • Streamlining hospital processes for how evidence is neurobiology of trauma research, for police packaged in SAKs interviews of victims and prosecutor presentation • Creating a team in the Houston Forensic Science at trial
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