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Of 13,700 Ohio Rape Kits Sent for DNA Testing, 10,700 Done
By: Associated Press
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COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) – Forensic scientists in Ohio have tested hundreds more sexual assault kits for DNA this spring under an initiative to check for evidence from previously untested kits.
The Ohio Attorney General’s office says law enforcement agencies submitted over 13,700 kits. Testing has been completed for nearly 10,700, or over 77 percent. The office says the testing led to over 3,800 hits in a DNA index system and several hundred indictments of suspects.
Attorney General Mike DeWine launched the testing initiative in 2011. Legislation that took effect last year mandated that any remaining untested sexual assault kits associated with crimes be submitted by law enforcement agencies to a crime laboratory by March 2016.
Rape kits from new cases are required to be submitted within a month after investigators determine a crime occurred.