AG Schimel announces sex assault kit testing complete, backlog cleared: 'This will never happen again'
MILWAUKEE — The Wisconsin Department of Justice has reached a major milestone. The testing on all of Wisconsin's backlogged sexual assault kits has been completed. On Monday, Sept. 10, Attorney General Brad Schimel made the surprise announcement and also delivered an apology.
Brad Schimel
"This is a great day," said Schimel.
Three years after announcing his initiative, Schimel said the testing of more than 4,000 unsubmitted sexual assault kits has been completed -- clearing a backlog from 1984.
Three cases are currently being prosecuted.
"I’ve been a prosecutor for 29 years. Some of those kits dated back to before I was an assistant D.A.," said Schimel.
Schimel said the kits were not tested because they were not needed for a conviction or in some cases, because law enforcement did not believe the victim. Investigators are meeting with those people to make amends, Schimel said.
"We are apologizing to them. It's long overdue," said Schimel.
Schimel is running for re-election. His Democratic challenger, Josh Kaul, said clearing the backlog took too long. Kaul said in a statement that "it's unacceptable that it's taken this long for testing to be completed," noting that it's been three years since the DOJ received $4 million in grants to do so. He also took issue with the fact that test results on more than 1,200 kits are still pending.
Schimel argued the backlog was due to capacity -- not politics.
"We got these kits tested as quickly as we could. Of course I wanted them done before Nov. 6, but we didn't delay anything. We didn't set anything aside. This was done as quickly as possible," said Schimel.
It has finally brought some closure for survivors, some who have waited decades for justice.
“More importantly, we are ensuring this will never happen again,” said Schimel.
Schimel said testing is just the beginning. The state is expanding response training programs and survivors now have the option to store their kit for 10 years -- giving them time to decide if they want it tested.
Rape kit testing