State Attorney General releases report to address backlog of sex assault kits

HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) - The state Attorney General's office sent a report to the state Legislature that includes an updated statewide inventory of sexual assault evidence kits and a plan to move forward with untested kits.

"We will be using this information to better understand the issues that resulted in some kits being untested, and to ensure that all kits that should be tested are tested," Attorney General Doug Chin said in a statement.

The report showed that the Honolulu Police Department had 1,512 kits in its possession and only 137 had been tested. Kauai police had 209 kits with 74 of them tested. Big Island police had 353 kits and 63 of them were tested. And on Maui, police had 166 kits and had 15 of them tested.

The kits are used to collect DNA evidence in sexual assault cases.

HPD said the decision to test a kit is made on a case-by-case basis and guided by whether it will result in evidence or help in the prosecution. Nationally, officials said at least a third of all sex assault offenders have committed multiple attacks against multiple people, which is why advocates believe testing all rape kits that are collected will lead to more convictions.

The Attorney General said one short-term goal would be to reduce how long it takes for sexual assault kits to be tested.

The report said a working group has developed the Malama Kakou Project, a plan that includes four key priorities: Test untested sexual assault kits and new sexual assault kits; identify the criteria for testing and not testing sexual assault kits and the order of testing; provide active outreach and public notification to ensure that information and services are provided to impacted survivors; and establish a tracking system for sexual assault kits.