400,000 Rape Kits Sit on the Shelf, Untested

Julie Smolyansky recently launched a nonprofit organization to raise awareness and promote solutions for the400,000 untested rape kits that remain in police departments across the country.

In January 2003, Michael Siebert, dubbed the "daycare rapist" sat in a Miami courtroom facing a judge.Siebert was arrested in connection with several rape cases in South Florida. One of his victims was Julie Weil, a Jupiter, Florida mother of two.

She and her two kids were abducted in October 2002.

Siebert took them deep into the Everglades and abused her for hours as Julie's children, three and 8-months old at the time, were forced to watch. "He raped me four times that day," Weil said. "It was completely devastating."

Sibert told the courtroom he didn't commit these crimes. But, his trail of DNA told a much different story.Investigators in Julie's case were able to find a small piece of Siebert's DNA on Julie's shirt. "DNA was very, very important," Weil said. "It saved my life."

DNA evidence, when collected in a case, is not always automatically tested. It is costly and time consuming and if investigators or prosecutors don't think it's a strong case, the testing may never occur. This is especially true with rape cases. It's estimated that as many as 400,000 rape kits have never been processed. Some of the kits are 30 years old. Victim advocates call this the rape kit backlog.

Police departments that do not submit rape kits that they consider no longer subject to a crime are reminded of their accountability by Test400k, which asks for a more comprehensive review of why these kits supposedly not subject to a crime are not submitted for testing.

Christina Perez, director of the Women and Gender Studies program at Dominican University in River Forest, said: "This backlog shows sexual assault and rapes are not taken very seriously. We know that sexual assault and rape are underreported. The majority of victims, who are women, feel as if no one will take them seriously.

"This fear comes out of reality. Evidence is not even prioritized. This backlog of rape kits is part of a whole system that devalues women and their sexual autonomy," Perez said.