New Mexico lawmakers address backlog of untested rape kits

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Associated Press

New Mexico lawmakers address backlog of untested rape kits
Mary Hudetz, Associated Press
Updated 9:26 pm, Monday, November 30, 2015

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — An estimated 5,000 untested rape kits are in New Mexico's crime labs and warehouses, and it could take five years to work through the backlog, state officials said Monday.

New Mexico Public Safety Secretary Gregory Fouratt told the Legislature's Courts, Corrections and Justice Committee during a hearing in Santa Fe that about 75 percent of the kits that haven't been tested stem from Bernalillo County sheriff and Albuquerque police cases. About 31 law enforcement agencies in the state — most of them representing more rural areas — have not responded to the state's initial request for the numbers of untested kits in the agencies' jurisdictions, he said.

The cost for processing each kit can amount to as much as $4,000, and officials say about $8 million is needed over a roughly five-year period to make progress in diminishing the backlog.

"This is important, expensive science," Fouratt said. "We do not have the scientific workspace to keep up with this state's current forensic needs."


Read more: http://www.chron.com/news/crime/article/New-Mexico-lawmakers-address-backlog-of-untested-6665987.php

[Stuart G]

1. So...New Mexico doesn't have 8 million for verification of rape? k and r.

I will bet it has 8 million for tourist advertising...what do you think????

[marble falls]

2. Justice delayed is justice denied. If there were a five year backlog on male rape victims....

what am I thinking, there'd NEVER have been a backlog for male victims - silly me.

And Steward G is right, I bet the tourism budget is even higher than $8M. I bet the "Space Port Authority" of NM gets more than $8M.

[Justice]

3. If I had money and was going to make a donation it would be to clear up these backlogs.

Are there suspects sitting in jail without bail awaiting trial?

Or are these women who have been raped and they are waiting for someone to investigate their case?

[angrychair]

4. Disgusting

Isn't this a violation of someone's Constitutional rights, "due process, speedy trial" and such?
What about victim rights? How many years have these people, the victim and the accused, waited for justice?

We have a seriously sick society.

[niyad]

6. come on, it's mostly women, who aren't. . . .you know, human or important.

[niyad]

5. what a load of codswallop. $4k for each rape kit? last I saw, it was $1k--and that was just

a few months ago.

so, fouratt, how long have those 5,000 kits been sitting there, untested? and it is going to take another FIVE years? how many serial rapists are in NM because you woman-hating assholes cannot/will not do your DAMNED JOBS? only a supreme lack of interest in crimes against women could result in such a bullshit backlog.