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West Virginia Lab to Eliminate Backlog of Untested Rape Kits
By: Associated Press
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CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) – The West Virginia Department of Military Affairs and Public Safety says the state is set to eliminate its backlog of untested rape kits this year.
News outlets report the state launched an initiative in 2015 to start testing its nearly 2,400 shelved rape kits, some of which dated back to the 1980s. The initiative was made possible by federal and state funding that also helped develop a kit inventory and tracking system that has since been adopted by the state police lab.
So far, the testing has added nearly 300 DNA profiles to the Combined DNA Index System, a national database overseen by the FBI. The Department of Military Affairs and Public Safety says that 106 of those profiles have matched either an offender or evidence collected from another crime.