Attorney General DeWine Reminds Law Enforcement of New Law Requiring Timely Submission of Rape Kits

(COLUMBUS, Ohio) — Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine today sent a letter to Ohio law enforcement agencies reminding them of new legislation that now requires the timely submission of rape kits for DNA testing by Ohio law enforcement agencies.

“The law is an important step in my office’s continuing effort to collect untested sexual assault examination kits for DNA analysis,” said Attorney General DeWine in the letter sent to law enforcement agencies today.

Governor John Kasich signed Senate Bill 316 in December. The law officially took effect today.

The law requires that all newly collected rape kits be submitted to a crime lab within 30 days after law enforcement determines a crime has been committed. The law also requires Ohio law enforcement agencies to submit any remaining previously untested sexual assault kits associated with a past crime to a crime laboratory within one year of today’s date.

The new law, which was sponsored by Senator Capri Cafaro (D-Hubbard), follows the launch of Attorney General DeWine’s Sexual Assault Kit (SAK) Testing Initiative in December 2011. As part of the initiative, Attorney General DeWine requested that law enforcement agencies voluntarily submit to the Bureau of Criminal Investigation (BCI) any rape kits associated with a crime that had not previously been sent to a crime lab for DNA testing. As of March 15, 2015, 153 law enforcement agencies have sent 9,279 previously untested kits to BCI as part of the initiative. Many of those kits were decades old.

“The initiative made Ohio a leader in the nation when it comes to testing sexual assault kits that, for one reason or another, were never submitted to a crime lab for DNA testing,” said Attorney General DeWine. “It’s now no longer optional to test kits associated with a crime, it’s mandatory, and victims of sexual assault deserve no less.”

Of the kits submitted to BCI as part of this special initiative, forensic scientists have tested 6,689 kits which have resulted in 2,519 hits in the Combined DNA Index System (CODIS). In Cuyahoga County alone, more than 250 defendants have been indicted following DNA testing conducted as part of the effort.