Rape victims groups, state legislators and an organization raising money to analyze untested evidence collected in rape cases are demanding Gov. Blagojevich change state figures he used to tout a dramatic decrease in the state’s backlog of untested DNA evidence.
The backlash occurred after Blagojevich announced Sunday that the number of DNA evidence kits left to be tested by the Illinois State Police amounted to 158 cases, a drop from the backlog of 1,113 cases state police acknowledged in January 2004.
The Tribune reported earlier this week that the state’s figures do not include 1,269 kits that remain unanalyzed in Chicago police evidence vaults. The kits hold traces of DNA left by attackers that can lead to a suspect when compared with national DNA databases.
State police officials said they do not count Chicago’s numbers because they send those kits to private labs. The officials said DNA samples must be in the state police’s crime lab for more than 30 days to be considered part of the backlog, according to a report issued to legislators Feb. 1.
But Sasha Walters, director of advocacy services for Rape Victims Advocates, a Chicago counseling center, said “it’s inaccurate to say there is no longer a backlog if there are more than 1,000 cases in a Chicago vault.”
“It’s playing politics,” she added. “Certainly, it feels good to say we reduced the number of cases in the backlog. The fact that all these aren’t processed immediately and aren’t being kept up with immediately … that’s the upsetting part. Everybody deserves to have the same access.”
A law passed last year required the state police to make yearly reports to the governor’s office and the Illinois General Assembly on their progress in clearing a backlog of DNA evidence kits in rape cases highlighted in a Tribune story in December 2003.
After the story ran, Blagojevich found $2.6 million to have the backlog of evidence tested.
On Wednesday, state police Sgt. Lincoln Hampton said the agency knows about the number of cases the Chicago Police Department has in its possession. But the kits have not been sent to the state police, and the agency has an agreement with Chicago to accept 125 evidence kits per month for analysis, Hampton said.
“The other cases that Chicago police have are not in our lab system at this point–that’s why they are not counted,” Hampton said.
State Sen. Kirk Dillard and Rep. Patti Bellock–both Republicans from Hinsdale who sponsored the law requiring the yearly reporting–called on Blagojevich to change the report on the backlog to reflect the number of cases in Chicago.
Rather than a backlog of 158 touted by Blagojevich, the more accurate number between the state and Chicago’s figures amounts to a backlog of 1,427 cases, Bellock said.
“Our concern now is that all cases be included so we know how many cases there are,” Bellock said. “No matter how they are being treated, if they are still in the backlog, that means there are 1,427 total in the backlog.”
Dillard said Blagojevich’s numbers make it hard to get federal funds to deal with the issue. “When the governor paints an inaccurate picture for his public relations purposes, he is actually harming the population of Illinois,” he said.
