{"id":11458,"date":"2024-07-03T05:03:10","date_gmt":"2024-07-03T05:03:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/?p=11458"},"modified":"2024-07-03T05:59:20","modified_gmt":"2024-07-03T05:59:20","slug":"wisconsin-crime-labs-not-meeting-new-dna-testing-deadline","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/?p=11458","title":{"rendered":"Wisconsin Crime Labs Not Meeting New DNA Testing Deadline"},"content":{"rendered":"

This post originally appeared at https:\/\/wisconsindailystar.com\/news\/wisconsin-crime-labs-not-meeting-new-dna-testing-deadline\/tcsquare\/2024\/07\/03\/<\/a><\/p>\n

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by Benjamin Yount<\/h5>\n

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A new audit raises questions as to whether Wisconsin\u2019s attorney general will be able to meet a new state requirement to get sexual assault kits tested within six months.<\/p>\n

The Legislative Audit Bureau released its new report on the state\u2019s crime recently, saying there are fewer requests for sexual assault DNA kits at the crime labs, but it is taking the labs longer to process each kit.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe median turnaround time to complete assignments created in a given fiscal year increased by 48.7 percent<\/a>,\u201d the auditors wrote. \u201cWe calculated an overall median turnaround time for all units, in part, because DOJ indicated its goal is to have an overall median turnaround time of 60 days.\u201d<\/p>\n

A state law, that went into effect Monday, requires the state\u2019s crime labs to be able to turn around those tests in no more than six months.<\/p>\n

The audit questions whether that can happen.<\/p>\n

\u201c2023 Wisconsin Act 58, which takes effect in July 2024, requires sexual assault kits<\/a> to be processed within six months, or within 60 days if a victim reports a sexual assault to a law enforcement agency, the perpetrator\u2019s identity is unknown, and a public safety threat exists. We recommend DOJ ensure the kits are processed within the deadlines required by Act 58,\u201d the report added.<\/p>\n

The audit also noted Wisconsin\u2019s crime labs are sending their DNA kits out to be tested at private labs.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith more than 97% of kits that were processed by outside labs taking more than six months to complete, it\u2019s going to be difficult for DOJ to meet their upcoming statutory obligations,\u201d Sen. Rob Cowles, R-Green Bay, said after the audit was released. \u201cThe delays in testing, along with the choice to send many tests to outside labs in the first place, goes against the spirit and language of Acts 116 and 58. This is despite the additional funding and positions that DOJ has received in recent budgets.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cowles also said he\u2019s concerned that the crime labs are not focusing enough on crime and crime victims.<\/p>\n

\u201cEveryone should be able to agree that survivors of sexual assault need to be supported by the criminal justice system, and that offenders of these heinous crimes do indeed represent a threat to public safety,\u201d Cowles added.<\/p>\n

The audit recommends 16 specific changes for the state\u2019s crime labs, including filling open jobs, \u201cmodify\u201d the use of private labs for certain tests and improve the labs\u2019 timeliness. The LAB asked for an update from the DOJ and its labs by Sept. 30.<\/p>\n

\u2013 \u2013 \u2013<\/p>\n

Benjamin Yount is a contributor for The Center Square<\/a>.
\nPhoto \u201cDNA Testing\u201d by University of Michigan School for Environment and Sustainability<\/a> CC BY 2.0.<\/em><\/p>\n

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The post Wisconsin Crime Labs Not Meeting New DNA Testing Deadline<\/a> appeared first on The Wisconsin Daily Star<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This post originally appeared at https:\/\/wisconsindailystar.com\/news\/wisconsin-crime-labs-not-meeting-new-dna-testing-deadline\/tcsquare\/2024\/07\/03\/ by Benjamin Yount \u00a0 A new audit raises questions…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":3495,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11458","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-wi-daily-star"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11458","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=11458"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11458\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11459,"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11458\/revisions\/11459"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3495"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=11458"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=11458"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=11458"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}