"There are approximately 400,000 untested rape kits gathering dust in U.S. crime labs. (That’s considered a conservative estimate since police departments are not required to report these numbers). While these kits sit in storage facilities, the rapists they could have put behind bars continue to roam the streets, and sometimes go on to commits other acts of sexual violence.
Though certain cities like
Detroit,
Houston and
New York City have taken leadership on the rape-kit backlog by allocating funding and resources to make sure they are tested, activists
have been urging the federal government to step in and make a more significant contribution."
http://msmagazine.com/blog/2015/03/17/newsflash-biden-announces-millions-to-end-rape-kit-backlog/
I spoke to a bunch of forensic scientists for a task for work and the thing that came up repeatedly was the small size of the available workforce. There is a huge backlog in DNA evidence; that is definitely partly because of a lack of funding for more efficient equipment and more people, but there also just aren't enough people in forensic labs to do all of the work.
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