Shelving Justice: The Discovery of Thousands of Untested Rape Kits in Detroit

Abstract

In August 2009, approximately 11,000 sexual assault kits (SAKs; “rape kits”) were found in a Detroit police department storage facility, the vast majority of which had never been tested for DNA evidence. To address this problem, a multidisciplinary action research project was formed to bring together researchers and practitioners from law enforcement, prosecution, forensic sciences, medicine/nursing, and victim advocacy to develop evidence‐based response strategies. In this paper, we will draw upon qualitative interviews with Detroit stakeholders, archival records, and ethnographic observations to examine the events surrounding the discovery of the rape kits and why police personnel did not view the accumulation of so many untested SAKs as a problem. Over the course of this three‐year action research project, Detroit stakeholders worked together to enact local‐ and state‐level reforms to test these kits and to prevent this problem from happening again.

Developing Empirically Informed Policies for Sexual Assault Kit DNA Testing: Is It Too Late to Test Kits Beyond the Statute of Limitations?

“…This research was conducted in Detroit MI, which in August 2009 was found to have approximately 11,000 rape kits in police property, dating back to 1980 (see Campbell, Shaw & Fehler-Cabral, 2015). To address this problem, a multi-disciplinary action research project was formed that brought together researchers and practitioners from law enforcement, forensic sciences, prosecution, nursing/medical, and victim advocacy to develop empirically guided testing protocols (Campbell, Fehler-Cabral et al, 2015). At the time this project was conducted, Detroit did not have the financial resources to test all previously unsubmitted SAKs, so the research team worked with local, county, and state-level practitioners to develop short-and long-term testing plans.…”

“…Given how long the kits had been accumulating, state police forensic science personnel conducted an independent audit to assess how this evidence had been secured and stored (see Campbell, Fehler-Cabral et al, 2015). This review found that the security and chain of custody of the kits had not been compromised.…”

“…Although some kits were quite old (30 years), DNA does not significantly degrade from the passage of time (Butler, 2005), 2 but rather from contamination-for example, exposure to ionizing radiation (Sutherland, Bennett, Sidorkina, & Laval, 2000), UV light (Cadet, Sage, & Douki, 2005), or formalin (Tang, 2006)-or from exposure to extreme heat (i.e., >266 °F; Karni, Zidon, Polak, Zalevsky, & Shefi, 2013) or humidity (i.e., 100% humidity; Lund & Dissing, 2004). The state police review concluded that the SAKs had not been exposed to extreme conditions, nor had they been opened for possible contamination of the samples (see Campbell, Fehler-Cabral et al, 2015). Therefore, it is unlikely that there was significant degradation of the samples, despite the age of some kits.…”

“…The SAKs in this comparison sample of SOL-unexpired SAKs were also used for a different study in the action research project that examined different methods of DNA testing (see Campbell, Fehler-Cabral et al, 2015). After the SOL-unexpired SAKs were selected, they were randomly assigned to two testing conditions (traditional vs. selective degradation).…”

“…After the SOL-unexpired SAKs were selected, they were randomly assigned to two testing conditions (traditional vs. selective degradation). This methodological difference between SOL-expired (all traditional testing) and SOL-unexpired SAKs (half traditional testing and half selective degradation testing) should not pose a threat to the validity of the results presented below because DNA testing method had no significant effect on forensic outcomes (see Campbell, Fehler-Cabral et al, 2015). Therefore, these samples could be reasonably combined when comparing forensic outcomes as a function of SOL status.…”