ASCLD statement on volume of untested sexual assault evidence kits

Review of direct PCR and Rapid DNA approaches to streamline sexual assault kit testing

“…The U.S. Government Accountability Office found that the reported number of backlogged crime scene requests from 2011 through 2017, at the state and local government laboratories, had increased by 85%, although the number of requests completed also increased over this time [7]. Following a recent voluntary survey across the U.S., the American Society of Crime Lab Directors (ASCLD) reported that as of July 2019 an estimated 98,000 SAKs had not been processed, with over 62,000 of those still waiting to be submitted to the laboratory for testing [8]. Despite backlog numbers being well-documented in the literature and the national news, there are limited studies that provide scientific solutions.…”