North Carolina clears rape kit backlog through statewide initiative

North Carolina Attorney General Josh Stein announced Tuesday that the state has ended its backlog of untested sexual assault kits.

Stein released the following statement:

“Today is a great day: North Carolina has ended the rape kit backlog. I am incredibly proud of the bipartisan and collaborative effort that produced this achievement – Republican and Democratic legislators, district attorneys, and law enforcement officers all played a critical role in ending the backlog. I also want to thank the scientists at the State Crime Lab who have worked countless hours to get these kits tested. Most importantly, I thank the victims for their bravery in submitting the evidence so we can hold their rapists accountable. Today’s excellent news is the result of an impressive team effort, but our work doesn’t end now. We’ve put in place measures to ensure that we never get into this situation again in North Carolina, and I intend to continue to do everything in my power to help law enforcement solve cold cases and get rapists off the streets and behind bars.”

According to a release, Attorney General Stein has prioritized ending this backlog to get justice for survivors since 2017. Working with the legislature and local law enforcement, the Department of Justice conducted a statewide inventory and determined that more than 16,000 untested kits sat on the shelves of local law enforcement agencies in 2019. A statewide effort of stakeholders determined under the process set out by the Survivor Act that 11,858 of these kits needed to be tested.

Attorney General Stein worked closely with legislators to enact the Survivor Act. This law established a clear process to test these older kits, provided significant funding, and set standards to ensure that law enforcement sends new kits for testing in a timely manner. Law enforcement officers, district attorneys, legislators, State Crime Lab scientists, advocates, and survivors worked closely to review the kits and determine which were testable under law. Attorney General Stein and the State Crime Lab also implemented a tracking system to ensure that survivors, law enforcement, prosecutors and other stakeholders could monitor kits’ progress after they are collected. The tracking system is now in use and will help prevent another backlog.

As of April 2024, 11,841 kits have been tested or are in the process of being tested. From those kits, 5,075 samples have been entered in the CODIS DNA database, and CODIS has matched the samples to 2,702 hits. 2,024 of those samples had hits to offenders whose DNA is in the database because of previous convictions or arrests. Law enforcement has made 114 arrests based on these hits. The remaining 17 kits are in process for testing. The U.S. Department of Justice and the North Carolina legislature all provided funding to test these kits.

“I am tremendously proud of the achievements of our state’s Crime Lab,” said Ms. Linda, a sexual assault survivor and advocate. “I truly believe the Crime Lab employees and scientists wanted the backlog depleted as much as I did.”

“For far too long, the majority of sexual assault survivors were not getting the justice they deserved in North Carolina,” said Monika Johnson-Hostler, executive director of the North Carolina Coalition Against Sexual Assault. “Thanks to this effort, cold cases are moving forward and survivors can be assured that the justice system in this state cares about what happened to them and is fighting for them.”

“Every untested rape kit represents a survivor waiting for justice, some for decades,” said Ilse Knecht, Director of Policy and Advocacy at the Joyful Heart Foundation. “Testing each kit has been and will always be the primary goal of End the Backlog. By ending the backlog of rape kits in North Carolina, the state has signaled to every survivor that they matter and what happened to them matters. By eliminating one of the biggest backlogs we’ve seen in a single state, North Carolina has helped clear a path for survivors towards healing and justice. We hope that more states will follow North Carolina’s lead and take meaningful steps to ensure that every survivor has the chance to seek justice–whatever form that may take. We are forever grateful for the leadership of Attorney General Josh Stein and his staff who have been absolutely committed to ending the backlog in the state and seeking justice for survivors.”

Throughout this process, the Department of Justice has worked to be as transparent as possible via a website, www.ncdoj.gov/testthekits that includes an interactive tracker. Attorney General Stein also has provided regular updates about the kit testing project’s process.