Dallas has the highest number of untested rape kits in Texas, some of which are decades old.

The backlog of untested rape kits in Texas, and particularly in Dallas, is alarming. Law enforcement agencies, including the Dallas Police Department, cite the pandemic, understaffing, and insufficient funding as the major factors contributing to this backlog. Texas has the most backlogged sexual assault kits in the nation, with thousands of kits still awaiting progress.

The backlog was first revealed in 2022, despite Texas legislation H.B. 8, which requires sexual assault kits to be tested within a certain timeframe. The law was named after Lavinia Masters, a sexual assault survivor and advocate, who waited decades for her kit to be tested and processed.

In December 2022, the Dallas City Council designated $2.3 million to speed up testing rates. This was in response to 1,800 kits split between the periods of 1996-2011 and 2011-2019 that were in need of testing.

The state’s Department of Public Safety has been awarded $3 million with the intent of reducing the backlog, and the Debbie Smith Act, which was reauthorized this year after first being passed in 2019, also pushes for rape kits to be prioritized for testing.

Despite these efforts, victims, especially those from Black and brown communities, continue to face systemic obstacles in their pursuit of justice. Lavinia Masters, who has been a vocal advocate, believes more must be done to ensure the process does not remain stagnant.

"I still say that one is too many,” Masters said. “You can’t say that we [sexual assault victims with older, backlogged rape kits] aren’t a priority. This time next year, you could have another thousand rape kits from victims that come forward, and what happens then? The new cases now will be the old cases then.”

The advocacy of Masters and other local elected officials is making strides in the right direction to ensure victims are not forgotten and the backlog of untested rape kits is reduced. It is time for more to be done to end this systemic lag in processing.

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