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 On Aug. 25, Gov. Bruce Rauner signed
into law a bill that creates the Sexual Assault Evidence Tracking and Reporting
Commission with the objective of establishing a statewide system to track sexual
assault evidence information.
State Rep. Margo McDermed, R-Mokena, filed House Bill 528, now Public Act
100-0336, to find ways to improve the processing and review of sexual assault
evidence.
 This law comes amid disturbing reports of evidence from sexual assaults and
other crimes sitting on shelves as the cases languish. The Chicago Sun-Times
reported in 2016 that Illinois police had more than 3,100 evidence kits from
sexual assaults, murders and other crimes that had not been fully processed as
of February 2016. One particularly egregious example occurred in Robbins, where
Cook County investigators discovered 170 rape kits sitting with the local police
department in 2013, according to the Chicago Tribune. While the police had sent
many of the kits for processing, they had not followed up with active
investigations. Cook County Sheriff’s Office Spokeswoman Cara Smith told the
Tribune that some of the Robbins evidence kits “went unchecked for decades.” In
some instances, investigators found the statutes of limitation had already run,
and in others, the suspects connected to the evidence had died.
For the victims of these crimes, the cliché “justice delayed is justice denied”
rings true.
Public Act 100-0336 aims to address the problems of evidence going untested in
sexual assault cases and victims not knowing when or if the evidence from their
cases will be processed.
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The law calls for the creation of a
13-member commission, which will include four members of the General
Assembly appointed by Senate and House majority and minority
leaders, as well as the Illinois attorney general and members of
Illinois’ law enforcement community, such as the director of the
Illinois State Police and a representative of the state’s sheriffs.
The commission will also include members of organizations that
represent hospitals and that work against sexual assault.
The law provides that within one year
of the commission’s initial meeting, the commission shall: (1)
research options to create a tracking system and
develop guidelines and a plan to implement a uniform statewide
system to track the location, lab submission status, completion of
forensic testing, and storage of sexual assault evidence; (2)
develop guidelines and a plan to implement a system with electronic
access that allows victims to obtain information about the location,
lab submission status, and storage of sexual assault evidence; (3)
develop guidelines and a plan to safeguard confidentiality and limit
disclosure of the information in the system; (4) recommend sources
of public and private funding to implement the commission’s plans;
(5) recommend changes to law or policy required for the
implementation of the plans; and (6) report its findings and
recommendations and any proposed legislation to the governor and
General Assembly.
“With this law, … Illinois has made a positive step towards
transparency and accountability in the testing process, which will
help decrease the likelihood of error, lessen the evidence kit
backlog, and bring more offenders to justice,” McDermed said in a
statement on her website.
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