Tennessee rape kits still going untested, TBI reports

BY THE NUMBERSArea counties and cities with untested rape kits:• Hamilton County Sheriff's Office: 104• Chattanooga Police Department: 99• Cleveland Police Department: 55• Marion County Sheriff's Office: 6• McMinn County Sheriff's Office: 1• Athens Police Department: 7• Monroe County Sheriff's Office: 3Source: Commercial Appeal

More than 9,000 rape kits have gone untested across Tennessee, some dating back nearly 30 years.

That's according to a report released Tuesday by the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation in response to a law passed earlier this year requiring all police agencies to account for all untested rape kits.

Rape kit backlogs have exploded as a national problem over the past year. Thousands of evidence kits have gone untested across the country, raising serious questions about how seriously police are taking the issue of rape. Memphis stood out as one of the most egregious examples, with an estimated 12,000 untested rape kits.

View more at our news partner's website, tennessean.com.

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