NCJ Number
253188
Date Published
June 2018
Length
34 pages
Annotation
This report presents the features and implementation plan of the Delaware Criminal Justice Council (CJC), with the support of the Delaware Police Chiefs Council, to reduce the backlogs of untested sexual assault kits throughout Delaware police agencies.
Abstract
This effort will be funded with a 3-year grant of $1,168,662 under the federal Sexual Assault Kit Initiative (SAKI). A SAKI coordinator was hired by the CJC to oversee the project. The coordinator formed a Multi-Disciplinary Group composed of three subcommittees on law enforcement, victims, and sexual assault nurse examiners (SANE). An inventory of backlogged SAKs documented 905 untested SAKs in 25 law enforcement agencies. There were no untested SAKs at 20 Delaware law enforcement agencies. 5 hospitals, or in the Division of Forensic Science. Since six cases had multiple kits collected, this increased the total count of untested SAKs to 911. With the assistance of the Delaware State Division of Forensic Science, Bode Cellmark Industries was contracted to test backlogged SAKs. This report describes the procedures for prioritizing and testing kits, as well as the investigative process and classification of returned tested SAKs. This report describes the victim-centered approach used in this project. A statewide protocol specifies when victim notifications on testing results should and should not be made, as well as how victims should be notified about case processing matters. A Victim Notification Review Team was established. The appendix contains a sample victim notification letter, resources for Delaware crime victims, and training and reference material.