Moving Forward While Looking Back: Understanding the Influence of a “Test All” SAK Mandate on Sexual Assault Case Attrition

• Published date: 01 April 2024
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1177/08874034241226939
• Author: April Pattavina,Melissa S. Morabito,Sabrina S. Rapisarda,Linda M. Williams
• Date: 01 April 2024

https://doi.org/10.1177/08874034241226939

Criminal Justice Policy Review

2024, Vol. 35(2-3) 63 –84

© The Author(s) 2024

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DOI: 10.1177/08874034241226939

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Article

Moving Forward While

Looking Back: Understanding

the Influence of a “Test All”

SAK Mandate on Sexual

Assault Case Attrition

April Pattavina1, Melissa S. Morabito1,

Sabrina S. Rapisarda1, and Linda M. Williams2

Abstract

The discovery of thousands of untested sexual assault kits (SAKs) in police jurisdictions

across the United States has prompted federal, state, and local agencies to enact

policies regarding SAK testing. One legislative response has been to implement

“test all” SAK policies. Such policies are expected to remove discretion from the

kit submission process and provide crucial forensic evidence needed to guide sexual

assault investigations. This study presents the impact of a “test all” policy in a

single jurisdiction and investigates whether the increased number of DNA matches

expected to come from more testing after implementation increased the likelihood

of arrest. Results indicate that the impact of a DNA match on arrest increased after

the mandate. The study concludes with a discussion of implications for sexual assault

investigations and recommendations for future research.

Keywords

rape, police decision-making, police discretion

The discovery of thousands of untested sexual assault kits (SAKs) in police jurisdic-

tions across the United States has prompted federal, state, and local agencies to make

considerable efforts to address the issue in recent years. Government sponsored

1University of Massachusetts Lowell, USA

2Wellesley College, MA, USA

Corresponding Author:

April Pattavina, School of Criminology and Justice Studies, University of Massachusetts Lowell, One

University Ave., Lowell, MA 01854, USA.

Email: April_Pattavina@uml.edu

1226939CJPXXX10.1177/08874034241226939Criminal Justice Policy ReviewPattavina et al.

research-article2024

64 Criminal Justice Policy Review 35(2-3)

projects in Los Angeles, Houston, Detroit, New Orleans, and Cuyahoga County, Ohio

shed light on how SAK testing practices and forensic results from previously untested

kits resulted in missed opportunities to identify suspects in sexual assault incidents

reported to the police (R. Campbell et al., 2017; Lovell et al., 2018; Pinchevsky, 2018;

Waltke et al., 2018). Resources for testing previously untested SAK’s and resolving

backlogs have been made available from special programs such as the Bureau of

Justice Assistance’s Sexual Assault Kit Initiative (SAKI). Legislators have also

responded by introducing state bills to count, test, and track rape kits and to give rights

to survivors (End the Backlog, 2020). Included among these legislative remedies are

“test all” mandates that require all future SAK’s collected be submitted to crime labo-

ratories for testing (Davis et al., 2020; Strom & Hickman, 2016).

Efforts to document and address untested SAK inventories are ongoing, and recent

estimates reveal that there are between 200,000 and 400,000 kits in storage across the

United States (R. Campbell et al., 2017; Pinchevsky, 2018; Wang & Wein, 2018). The

volume of untested kits varies significantly across jurisdictions with testing rates rang-

ing from as low as 18% (Strom & Hickman, 2010) to as high as 89% (McEwen, 2011).

Investigations into factors that influence SAK testing practices in jurisdictions have

centered on the roles that organizational conditions (Hendrix et al., 2020; Luminais

et al., 2017) and case-level characteristics play in the police decision to submit SAKs

for testing (B. A. Campbell, Menaker, & King, 2015; Patterson & Campbell, 2012; R.

Campbell, Shaw, & Fehler-Cabral, 2015; Valentine et al., 2019). This body of work

has generated important insights into the discretion used by police in testing decisions

and how the investigative and scientific complexities that drive those decisions may

run counter to the interests of victims.

As a legislative response, the intent of “test all” SAK policies is to limit law enforce-

ment discretion in making the decision to test. Such policies are expected to remove

bias from the kit submission process, may assure victims that their complaint is being

taken seriously, and may provide crucial forensic evidence needed to guide sexual

assault investigations. Testing can aid investigations by identifying suspects unknown

to the victim, confirming the identity of suspects known to the victim, identifying

serial offenders, and exonerating those who are wrongfully accused (R. Campbell,

Shaw, & Fehler-Cabral, 2015; Davis et al., 2021; Lovell et al., 2017, 2018, 2020).

Evaluations of these policies examined changes in sexual assault arrest measures

before and after “test all” policies were implemented and did not find a significant

effect (Davis et al., 2020; Mourtgos et al., 2021). While informative, these evaluations

were limited in that they were not able to directly consider how forensic results from

testing SAKs following the mandate impacted arrest outcomes at the incident-level.

This study presents the results of an evaluation of one jurisdiction’s “test all” mandate

on incident-level outcomes of sexual assault reports made to the police. The study

begins with a review on SAK testing policies and practices followed by a description

of the “test all” mandate to be evaluated. Next the evaluation plan and analytic

approach are described followed by a discussion of the findings. The study concludes

with recommendations for future research.