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Sexual Assault Kit Backlog Study, Los Angeles, California, 1982-2010

Metadata Updated: February 13, 2023

The study addressed the growing problem of untested sexual assault kits that have been collected and stored in law enforcement agencies' storage facilities and forensic laboratories throughout the nation. Project researchers randomly collected a 20 percent sample of the 10,895 backlogged sexual assault cases (cases with untested sexual assault kits) at the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) and Los Angeles Sherriff's Department (LASD) to be tested and to evaluate the scientific results achieved by private testing laboratories. After sorting through files and eliminating many due to time constraints, case count fluctuations throughout the course of the data collection, the inability to locate every case file, and removing cases due to the suspects' age, the researchers collected and coded sexual assault case information on 1,948 backlogged cases from 1982 to 2009. Data were also collected on 371 non-backlogged sexual assault cases with sexual assault kits that were tested between January 1, 2009 and August 1, 2010. Data collection focused on the respective agencies' crime laboratory files and the DNA reports submitted by outside private testing laboratories. Data collection tools for this project focused on key descriptive, investigative, critical event times/dates, physical evidence, and analytical tests performed on the evidence. Records yielded information on DNA profiles and related Combined DNA Index System (CODIS) submission activity. Criminal justice case disposition information was also collected on a total of 742 cases including a sample of 371 backlogged cases and the 371 non-backlogged cases to examine the impact of evidence contained in sexual assault kits on criminal justice disposition outcomes. The resulting 2,319 case dataset, which is comprised of 1,948 backlogged cases and 371 non-backlogged cases, contains 377 variables relating to victim, suspect, and crime characteristics, laboratory information and testing results, CODIS information, and criminal justice dispositions.

Access & Use Information

Restricted: This dataset can only be accessed or used under certain conditions. License: us-pd

Downloads & Resources

Dates

Metadata Created Date August 18, 2021
Metadata Updated Date February 13, 2023

Metadata Source

Harvested from DOJ JSON

Additional Metadata

Resource Type Dataset
Metadata Created Date August 18, 2021
Metadata Updated Date February 13, 2023
Publisher National Institute of Justice
Maintainer
Identifier 3555
Data First Published 2013-11-13T16:34:36
Language eng
Data Last Modified 2013-11-20T16:19:17
Rights These data are restricted due to the increased risk of violation of confidentiality of respondent and subject data.
Public Access Level restricted public
Bureau Code 011:21
Metadata Context https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema/catalog.jsonld
Metadata Catalog ID https://www.justice.gov/data.json
Schema Version https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema
Catalog Describedby https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema/catalog.json
Harvest Object Id 2c276b9f-9dcb-49f7-b084-b8b22f6da4e6
Harvest Source Id 3290e90a-116f-42fc-86ac-e65521ef3b68
Harvest Source Title DOJ JSON
License http://www.usa.gov/publicdomain/label/1.0/
Program Code 011:060
Publisher Hierarchy Office of Justice Programs > National Institute of Justice
Source Datajson Identifier True
Source Hash d04a36fe3dc5d92ae5138c682475b90b613c57c5
Source Schema Version 1.1

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