The trauma for a victim of sexual assault increases when that person experiences delay after delay in obtaining DNA test results from a Sexual Assault Kit (SAK). That’s why the News-Miner applauds the news that the Alaska Crime Lab (ALC) reports only a minute number of untested SAKs. In fact, ACL reports it has reduced untested kits 98% since 2017.
A man has been sentenced to nine years in prison for the sexual assault of a 33-year-old woman in 1999.
“Today’s sentencing shows just how important the work of our G.O.L.D. Unit is,” Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Michael O’Malley said in the release. “Through their work and the work of our agency partners, after 23 years, we were able to bring this offender to justice and hopefully provide the victim with some long overdue closure.”
A recent report from the state Executive Office of Public Safety and Security suggests the State Police Crime Lab has made progress testing more than 6,500 so-called sexual assault evidence collection kits that were determined to require review under a 2021 law intended to reduce the backlog.
FY2022 Grantee Welcome Webinar - Prosecuting Cold Cases Using DNA Program
— Forensics Training and Technical Assistance Team, Feb 9, 2023
The Forensics TTA Team recently hosted a webinar in collaboration with the Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA). During this webinar, BJA provided an overview of the Prosecuting Cold Cases Using DNA program, guidelines for newly awarded grantees, and addressed questions from attendees. Attendees were also introduced to the BJA Policy and Programs Office, as well as the Forensics Training and Technical Assistance (TTA) Team.
"An arrest has been made in the nearly 40-year-old double murder of a mother and son in Charlotte’s Hidden Valley neighborhood, authorities say.
Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police announced the arrest of James Thomas Pratt, 60, in connection with the murders of Sarah Mobley Hall, 27, and her 10-year-old son, Derrick Dion Mobley."
"Back in 2018, the attorney general's office found over 16,000 untested rape kits in local law enforcement offices across the state. Since then, they have cut that backlogged number in half.
The AG's office hopes to speed up production with more staff.
The office anticipates backlogged rape kit testing will be done by the end of the year, or by the start of 2024."
"George Wayne Aldridge, 52, was arrested Friday and charged in three abductions and sexual assaults between 2009 and 2016, the Lexington Police Department said in a news release early Saturday.
Police said they worked the cold cases in conjunction with Kentucky State Police, the Jessamine County Sheriff’s Office and Kentucky Office of Attorney General’s Sexual Assault Kit Initiative Task Force."
"Shawn Darnell Robinson Hopkins, 37, Kalamazoo, was arraigned Thursday, Feb. 2, on one felony count of first-degree criminal sexual conduct in Kalamazoo County District Court.
He is accused of giving a 14-year-old girl alcohol and marijuana before sexually assaulting her in June 2005, Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel said in a written statement. He was charged through the Kalamazoo Sexual Assault Kit Initiative."
"A bill passed in the Senate Monday morning, requiring all West Virginia hospitals with emergency departments have a trained Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner (SANE) available to treat victims 24 hours a day."
"A Madison man was convicted in a sexual assault case last week, evidence of which the Department of Justice said was gathered through a sexual assault kit."
Funded by the Bureau of Justice Assistance, the Sexual Assault Kit Initiative aims to create a coordinated community response that ensures just resolution to sexual assault cases. Through this program, funding is provided to support multidisciplinary community response teams engaged in the comprehensive reform of jurisdictions approaches to sexual assault cases resulting from evidence found in previously unsubmitted sexual assault kits.
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