Rape test backlog sparks DNA bill

Victims are angry at the backlog of unsolved rape cases

DNA tests may provide vital clues for British detectives hunting a serial rapist who has targeted women and children in the south east of England.

But in the US proposals are being debated to invest half a billion dollars in dealing with hundreds of thousands of unsolved cases through a national DNA testing programme.

There is growing criticism in America of the way that investigations into the 240,000 rapes or attempted rapes committed there each year are handled.

A bill currently before the US Congress is calling for hundreds of thousands of dollars to be spent on trying to clear the backlog of unsolved rape cases.

It has been called the Debbie Smith bill after a woman who was raped after being snatched from her home in Williamsburg, Virginia, as her police lieutenant husband slept upstairs.

Had it not been for my family, I would have taken my own life without a second thought

Rape victim Debbie Smith

It took six and a half years before a local man called Norman Jimmerson, 35, was charged and convicted for the attack after the authorities finally made a DNA match.

Mrs Smith said: "It made all the difference in the world. It meant actually living life again.

"One of the ways that I have expressed it is that for the first time in six and a half years I deliberately took a breath. I could feel air in my lungs and I wanted it to be there. I wanted to live again.

"Whereas before I went through the motions of living life and I only did that for my family. Had it not been for my family, I would have taken my own life without a second thought."

Huge backlog

Debbie Smith and others are fighting hard for the legislation, not only because they feel it will clear up old cases but because it will be vital in the fight to prevent future attacks.

They want the cash used to help make the investigation of rape cases more efficient.

Currently even if authorities collect a 'rape kit' - forensic samples taken from victims - it may be poorly handled and deemed inadmissible in court, or simply left to collect dust until the statute of limitations to prosecute the rape has passed.

The Justice Department says there are approximately 150,000 to 500,000 rape kits waiting to be analysed because law enforcement officials are short on both funds and the skilled staff to process them.

When rape DNA testing is handled efficiently, the results are impressive.

The nice part about this DNA science is that it works both ways; it exonerates innocent people and convicts the guilty

Tom Bodie

Tom Bodie runs a DNA testing laboratory in Virginia which is helping to process thousands of rape kits made if samples taken from victims.

He said: "We process about 225 rape kits a month and the objective is to get the male profiles and create a database.

"Of the thousands that we've sent back to New York City, they've solved hundreds of crimes and of the first 50 that we did for Baltimore City, they got 12 crimes solved out of 50 cases - that was a very high percentage."

In one case, their tests enabled a man who had been wrongly arrested to be freed and the correct offender to be detained.

Organisations in America that work with rape victims have long lobbied the government to clear the backlog.

Fight for justice

A spokesman for the Rape Crisis Centre in Washington DC said: "I don't think it will prevent any first time offenders. I do think that it might have an impact on the individuals who are repeat offenders, who will recognise that if they've been charged once, if they commit the crime again, it's extremely likely that they'll be identified".

In 2001, there were 249,000 victims of rape, attempted rape or sexual assault in the US

Bureau of Justice

The FBI now has a national database of DNA samples taken from convicted felons against which samples from the kits can be tested.

Jamie Zuieback, of the Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network, RAINN said: "Some states have seen hit rates as high as 48%. So they can clear off those old backlog cases, identify the perpetrator and hopefully make sure that person goes to prison."

The mammoth task of clearing the backlog has begun. The pressure is now on Congress to pass the Bill and for the President to sign it.