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Pennsylvania’s backlog for tests of rape kits: 1,852

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(Harrisburg) — More than 1,800 rape kits in Pennsylvania have gone untested, despite being collected more than year ago.

State Auditor General Eugene DePasquale says his office will launch a special report into the rape kit backlog.

Philadelphia is responsible for most of it – nearly 1,300 of the kits waiting for a test statewide were collected after crimes in the city.

DePasquale says the backlog is relatively small compared to other states, but it’s still not good enough.

“Because we know that from all the evidence of what’s happened in other states, the closer you can get that to 0, the more you can catch the repeat rapists that are out there,” says DePasquale.

Pennsylvania’s backlog is the ninth best of the 30 states that are ranked by the group End the Backlog.

DePasquale says his special report will try to determine how to eliminate the it completely.

“If there’s a way that we can help protect women and also other victims of rape, we’re going to do it. And I think my team and the work we’ve done gives us the credibility to put forward a good report that the Legislature and the Governor will have to take seriously,” he adds.

He expects it will be out by the end of the summer.

This is the first year the backlog number has been reported by the state Department of Health, due to change in state law.

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