Testing Justice: Rape Kit Backlog in Los Angeles City and County

1
Untested sexual assault kits at the Los Angeles Police Department storage facility. © 2009 Patricia Williams 40189
2
A treatment center employee demonstrates how evidence is collected from a rape victim after an assault. © 2008 Patricia Williams 40189
3
A Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department crime lab DNA analysts signs-out evidence at the lab’s evidence storage facility from a sexual assault case, which includes a rape kit and a bag of the victim’s clothing. © 2009 Patricia Williams 40189
4
Evidence from a rape case waits for testing at the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department crime laboratory. © 2009 Patricia Williams 40189
5
The rape kit includes numerous envelopes potentially containing DNA evidence. © 2009 Patricia Williams 40189
6
A lab employee works to replicate the DNA taken from a crime scene, to create a bigger sample to analyze. © 2009 Patricia Williams 40189
7
A crime lab analyst applies chemicals to extract the DNA from a swab that was in the rape kit. © 2009 Patricia Williams 40189
8
Microscopic slides, with traces of semen taken from the victim’s vaginal and anal area, are contained in one of the rape kit envelopes. © 2009 Patricia Williams 40189
9
Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department property freezers, which store untested rape kits. © 2009 Patricia Williams 40189
10
Untested sexual assault evidence at the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department central evidence storage facility. © 2009 Patricia Williams 40189
11
A rape kit photographed at the Santa Monica Rape-UCLA Treatment Center. © 2008 Patricia Williams 40189
Los Angeles County has the largest known rape kit backlog in the United States. At least 12,669 untested sexual assault kits ("rape kits")-which potentially contain DNA and other evidence collected from rape victims' bodies and clothes immediately after the crime-are sitting in police storage facilities in the Los Angeles Police Department, the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, and 47 independent police departments in Los Angeles County. The untested rape kits in Los Angeles County represent lost justice for the victims who reported their rape to the police, and consented to the four-to-six hour rape kit collection process.
Region / Country

Related Content

United States
Testing Justice: Rape Kit Backlog in Los Angeles City and County

March 31, 2009

Video
Testing Justice: Rape Kit Backlog in Los Angeles City and County