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Lawmakers Want Sexual Assault DNA Testing Sent to Crime Labs
There is no law in Illinois requiring law enforcement agencies to submit evidence taken from rape kits to state labs for testing. Some state lawmakers, however, say that needs to change.

State Rep. Jack Franks (D-Woodstock) is sponsoring a bill (HB 4765) that would require the kits be sent in for testing within six months after the law enforcement agency receives them. Franks says currently state law only require the kits be picked up from the hospital in two weeks, but there is no language requiring the kits are tested for DNA evidence.

Franks says that DNA evidence is often the best weapon prosecutors have against defendants in sexual assault cases. State Sen. Toi Hutchinson (D-Olympia Fields) is sponsoring similar legislation in the Senate (SB 3269). Her bill would require rape kits are submitted for testing just ten days after they are received.

State Rep. Emily McAsey (D-Lockport) will sponsor that bill in the House. She says when the kits go untested it re-victimizes people who have already been through a traumatic experience.

(Illinois Radio Network)
02 10 10 by Newsroom
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