The Detroit Police crime lab was closed down in April 2008 following the discovery that it had handled evidence improperly in a number of firearms cases. A material consequence of that closing came to light during an audit thereafter, when crime lab technicians found approximately 10,500 unprocessed rape kits sitting on shelves, many of them well over a decade old.

The demand was simply too much for investigators. The situation caught the attention of police, politicians and prosecutors throughout the state intent on finding a solution to the staggering backlog of unsolved sex crimes. Michael Thomas, former head of the Michigan State Police forensic laboratories, recently summed up the view held by many state and police officials. "Each of these unprocessed rape kits represents a victim who probably has felt their case was being investigated or couldn't be solved," says Thomas. "We want to bring them all justice."

The hopeful vehicle for doing that is Michigan State University. Recent funding by the State Police will pay for private-lab testing of 400 randomly selected rape kits. Following that, MSU will analyze the time and costs required to complete investigation of the remaining 10,100 kits. A prior outsourcing estimate concluded that it would take 2 ½ years and cost about $15 million to complete the task. Officials hope those numbers are wrong. MSU expects to complete its work sometime this autumn.

Police and prosecutors express high hopes regarding the outcomes, and the prosecution of hundreds or even thousands of rapists.

Related Resource: DetroitNews.com "MSU will study time needed to clear backlog of unprocessed rape test kits" July 1, 2010