CBS Evening News Investigates Rape Kit Backlog

CBS Evening News reported on November 10th about the staggering number of untested rape kits in the nation: So far they've discovered 20,000 untested rape kits, and at least 12 major cities in the US have no idea how many untested rape kits they have in storage.

Some disturbing facts from the report:

The arrest rate of rape last year was only 25%--extremely low in comparison to the arrest rate for murder (79%) and aggravated assault (51%)

In some states, rape kits aren't tested for years--in Louisiana the average was 8 years

71% of rapists are repeat offenders, with an average of 6 rapes per rapist--meaning that while incriminating evidence is available, rapists carry out more crimes.

The entire report is 10 minutes long, and available at at this url: http://www.hrw.org/en/news/2009/11/10/cbs-evening-news-katie-couric-features-rape-kit-researcher.

The good news is that Congress has been working to address the rape kit backlog. Al Franken (D-MN) passed a law in the Senate to address the rape kit backlog (full story available here.)

Photo Credit: ynse on flickr.com