As part of the training and technical assistance for grantees of the federal Sexual Assault Kit Initiative (SAKI), which provides guidance for reducing backlogs of untested sexual assault kits (SAKs) in local and state jurisdictions, this report assists SAKI grantees in reporting performance measures on the number of "hits" from the Combined DNA Index System (CODIS) that resulted from DNA profiles obtained from testing SAKS from backlogs.
Question 10 in the Bureau of Justice Assistance's (BJA's) National Sexual Assault Kit Initiative Performance Measures requires SAKI grantees to record the number of confirmed CODIS hits determined during the reporting period. A "confirmed hit" is a verified match that provides a new investigative lead in at least one unsolved case. Question 10 then describes three categories for recording confirmed hits. An "offender/arrestee hit" is a new DNA profile uploaded during the reporting period that matches the DNA of a known offender or arrestee profile in the offender/arrestee index. A "forensic hit" is defined as a new profile uploaded during the reporting period that matches the DNA from an unknown forensic sample in the forensic index. "CODIS hits" are the total number of confirmed hits, which is determined by adding "forensic hits" and "offender/arrestee hits." An example scenario is provided for reporting these performance measures. 1 figure