SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (IRN) — The Illinois State Police continue to work on thousands of rape kits after a law passed last year forced police departments to turn over rape kits to the State Police forensic lab within 10 days of collection.

According to Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan, the state police have analyzed about 900 of 4,100 rape kits. She says about 19 percent of those analyzed have had a hit in the DNA database. “That doesn’t mean that [those 19 percent] are cases that are cold cases,” Madigan said. “They may have been prosecuted and they may not have needed the DNA evidence.”

Asked if she was surprised that after more than a year the number of analyzed rape kits wasn’t more, she said the State Police are doing a good job. Asked about outsourcing, she says that isn’t the answer because of high costs.

Madigan says after the law passed, of the 4,100 rape kits that were inventoried at police stations across the state, only about 3,200 have been sent to the crime labs.

right Illinois Radio Network