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                            LexisNexisª Academic

                 Copyright 2002 The Seattle Times Company
                             The Seattle Times

                   June 6, 2002, Thursday Fourth Edition

SECTION: ROP ZONE; Opinion; Pg. B6

LENGTH: 447 words

HEADLINE: Justice for rape victims

BODY:
LAW-enforcement agencies have some of the answers about who committed
unsolved rapes. They just don't have the means to decipher all of them and
bring the criminals to justice.

Of the 348 DNA analyses Washington has conducted in forcible-rape cases in
the past two years, 8 percent have matched DNA results in the state's
database of violent and sexual offenders, a report by U.S. Sen. Maria
Cantwell's office found. Twenty-eight cases with few or no leads were
solved. But of 17,000 forcible rapes reported in the last five years, only
about 4,000 -- less than one-quarter -- were forwarded for lab analysis.
Applying the same 8-percent success rate to the remaining 13,000 means that
potentially another 1,000 might be solved.

Some of those rapists, who would be in jail if not for the backlog, might
still be on the streets, raping or committing other crimes. The backlog must
be reduced, bringing more criminals to justice and more peace of mind to
victims.

Cantwell and Sen. Hillary Clinton introduced similar legislation that is
being combined to provide $250 million in grants to accelerate processing of
the backlog here and around the nation -- a 1999 federal study estimated
that as many as 150,000 rape kits remain untested, but some estimates put
the number as high as 500,000. The proposed "Debbie Smith Act," named for a
Virginia woman whose 1989 sexual assault was solved six years later because
of DNA testing, also would establish a standard evidence kit and train
nurses to collect DNA samples and counsel rape victims. The act also would
require within five years that all DNA samples in rape cases be processed
within 10 days.

If there is an immediate match, the suspect can be taken off the streets
sooner.

DNA technology has advanced dramatically in the past several years --
smaller samples can yield more precise results. Such advances were the key
to King County Prosecutor Norm Maleng charging Gary Leon Ridgway with four
charges of aggravated first-degree murder of victims found as many as 20
years ago.

That technology and DNA databases of criminals create the opportunity for
more crime-solving beyond merely matching a specific suspect to a sample
from a crime.

Even if a DNA sample from a rape case doesn't match a sample from the felon
database, it might match a sample from another rape or other crime. That
would help investigators put together different cases that might provide a
better picture of the criminal's patterns and behavior, especially if the
rapist travels between jurisdictions.

If law-enforcement agencies already have the evidence, it makes sense to
make sure they have all the information, too.

LOAD-DATE: June 7, 2002