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  1. #1

    Detroit: "Oh, we had to test those rape kits???...well damn..."

    http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013...be-tested?lite

    Detroit prosecutors working to get thousands of rape kits tested, some of which may contain evidence for cases two decades old, will get help from the state, Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder and Attorney General Bill Schuette announced on Wednesday.

    The attorney general’s office pledged $4 million in settlement funds to process the kits. While some of the kits are not in viable condition, 569 have been tested so far, Snyder said at a news conference.
    The kits “sat on a shelf,” for years, Schuette said Wednesday. “In essence, this rape kit was stamped with ‘return to sender’ or ‘insufficient postage.’”
    “I saw numerous racks with cardboard boxes, and they told me at that point those were rape kits. I immediately asked the representatives were they tested rape kits or untested rape kits. And at that point they said, ‘We don’t know,’” Spada told Rock Center.

  2. #2
    Shimmy shimmy ya shimmy yam shimmy ya
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    There can be several reasons why a rape kit isn't tested. This is just a matter of negligence on the proper disposal of them.

  3. #3

    http://www.foxnews.com/entertainment...oit-processed/

    They contain DNA and other evidence from rape cases, but a majority of the 11,000 kits never were tested in a lab.
    It wasn't that they didn't just dispose of them after testing was done, they just never did the testing or so it seems.

  4. #4
    Shimmy shimmy ya shimmy yam shimmy ya
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    I'm telling you not every SANE kit collected is sent to the lab. There's a variety of reasons of why it's not done.

    - Unable to obtain the target DNA for comparison.
    - Derived evidence would only be cumulative.
    - Unknown subject.
    - An acknowledgement of guilt by the subject.
    - Compromised seals.
    - Broken chain of custody.

    These are just the most common scenarios off the top of my head.

    The situation here sounds like the disposition of the kits were never properly documented. So when the question is "why or why not" were they tested and the answer is "we don't know," by default they now have to be sent off.

  5. #5
    Shimmy shimmy ya shimmy yam shimmy ya
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    Still a monumental fuck-up that's going to cost the city a shit load of money.

  6. #6
    listen!
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    Why don't they just throw them away if some are past statute of limitations anyway? Seems kind of pointless to be testing them now..

  7. #7
    Resident Gestapo
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    Even if they are past due, you should still test them to put in a database for future comparisons. It's a fundamental portion of unknown-subject identification when you have a trend of crime and you get hits across different areas to establish a pattern for identification. There's no such thing as a statute of limitations for civil liability either. Even if it doesn't amount to a criminal prosecution, a survivor may want closure in their case so that they can either: 1. don't become a target by the same subject (common theme), or 2. can sue them for pain and suffering.

    Either way, that's a pretty huge fuck up on their part. Most agencies usually send off kits to a larger jurisdiction to cut costs and Detroit has been floundering in their public safety service for what? A decade? Hell their crime lab was shut down in 2008: http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/...rime-lab_N.htm Send them off to the Michigan State Crime lab and be done with it.

  8. #8
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    Detroit is paradise lost. I mean corruption lost. Wait it is just lost.