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1,200 additional rape kits to be tested in Virginia

Posted at 3:35 PM, Jun 08, 2017
and last updated 2017-06-08 15:35:24-04

FAIRFAX, Va. – Thursday, Attorney General Mark Herring announced that an additional 1,247 previously untested physical evidence recovery kits will be tested as part of a $3.4 million project to complete Virginia’s backlog of untested rape kits.

This brings the total number of untested kits to 3,200.

Attorney General Herring says he hopes survivors see that they are turning the page from an old approach that failed to meet public safety goals.

He also went on to say, “The progress we’ve made so far, including the identification of these remaining kits, shows we’re keeping the up the momentum on this project.”

The first phase of the kit testing project collected samples from 2014, so far 450 results have been returned to the state resulting in at least 44 matches in the national DNA database.

The second phase took samples from 2014, 2015, and 2016 as a result, 1,247 kits have been identified that will be sent for testing.

Once a kit has been tested, the resulting profile is communicated and sent to the national DNA database.

Under a new state law, survivors whose older kits are tested as part of this project will now have the right to know the result.