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SD public defense duties shift from counties to state; SCOTUS appears skeptical of restricting government communications with social media companies; Trump lawyers say he can't make bond; new scholarships aim to connect class of 2024 to high-demand jobs.

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The SCOTUS weighs government influence on social media, and who groups like the NRA can do business with. Biden signs an executive order to advance women's health research and the White House tells Israel it's responsible for the Gaza humanitarian crisis.

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Midwest regenerative farmers are rethinking chicken production, Medicare Advantage is squeezing the finances of rural hospitals and California's extreme swing from floods to drought has some thinking it's time to turn rural farm parcels into floodplains.

Arizona Names Task Force to Identify Untested Rape Kits

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Monday, January 18, 2016   

PHOENIX - Gov. Doug Ducey has named a task force to identify the number of untested Sexual Assault Evidence Kits, also known as rape kits, sitting in law enforcement evidence rooms across Arizona.

In his State of the State address last week, Gov. Ducey charged the panel with counting the kits and developing a plan, including a funding request to eliminate the backlog. Shannon Rich, public policy director for the Arizona Coalition to End Sexual and Domestic Violence, says it's hard to know just how many kits are out there.

"There are over 2,000 kits that are untested in Maricopa County," says Rich. "As far as the rest of the state, we're not entirely sure, which is going to be one of the priorities for the task force, is to identify the scope of the problem."

Rich says the kits contain critical evidence collected from sexual assault victims, and can cost $2,000 to $3,000 each to process. She says some of them may have sat untested for as long as a decade.

According to Rich, the failure to process the evidence in these cases often further traumatizes the victim and sends a message that police don't consider sexual assault charges a priority. She says there are two reasons her group often hears for kits not being tested.

"One is funding. The tests aren't cheap and so, that can be an issue if the crime labs don't have the resources," says Rich. "The other, if the perpetrator has been already identified, they may not test the kit because they already know who the person is."

Even in cases where the suspect is known, she adds, it's important to get their DNA into a database in order to help identify serial rapists.

The Arizona task force is expected to complete its report by the end of the year.



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