Clearing Texas Rape Kit Backlog Brings Hefty Price Tag
There are some 20,000 untested rape kits sitting on evidence shelves in police departments across Texas, the state Department of Public Safety estimates.
Each box with samples of hair, skin and clothing represents one of the worst moments of the victim’s life, a crime that was followed by hours in a doctor’s office submitting the most personal evidence.
“For nothing to be done with it is a revictimization of that person,” said Victoria Camp, deputy director of the Texas Association Against Sexual Assault. “And I think that is unfair.”
In 2011, Texas lawmakers approved a bill by ...
Comments (7)
STOPTHE MAGNET
Wendy...could it be all those illegals you love to protect...hmmm?
D W
why does Texas need help from the Washington to do whats its suppose to do?????
Patsy Painter Hull via Texas Tribune on Facebook
Why does the federal government have to fund what clearly is not a priority of the Texas legislature? Why do they not allocate the funds themselves ?
David Huang via Texas Tribune on Facebook
$11 mil seems like a pretty paltry figure for such a serious backlog issue. Obviously the issue just isn't important to them. Shame on the Tx Leg.
Timothy George
We are sending a bad message to victims of rape by allowing these backlog of rape kits to not be tested. It is time for us to get our house in order, and see that these kits get tested, by funding the DPS properly. After seeing what happened in India, we in America must see to it that this crime does not continue without prosecution. I trust, and pray that Texas will sent a precedent by getting the funds to test these kits.
J Blair Cherry Jr
Why is it a Federal responsibility to fund local law enforcement?
ZoeBrain
The GOP in the House added amendments to the SAFER act so as to require reconciliation - for which there was no time - thereby deliberately killing a bill that had bipartisan support.
So don't hold your breath that it will get through in the next session either. There are enough ideologically opposed to any Federal government spending for any reason whatsoever to kill any bill - unless it's so larded with pork and waste that they get bought. The SAFER act, being so simple, doesn't stand a chance, you can't hide pages of pork in a 2-page bill.
It's just the way things are, nothing can be done since these people are all in safe districts after the 2010 boundary changes.