Recently states across the country have been receiving backlash for the large numbers of untested rape kits in their possession, but the issue in Alabama is the prolonged time it takes to return tested rape kits.

Rape kits can take as long as 18 to 22 months to come back from the forensic labs, said Kathy Connolly, executive director of Rape Response.

“It really unnecessarily traumatizes victims,” Connolly said. “For a lot of people it is too much like digging all of that up. It’s the long delays that are as big a problem (as), if not bigger than, some not being tested.”

The long delays in getting rape kits tested are a product of state budget cutting.

“The state budget is such that they have cut funding to some of the forensics and so we need more people doing these tests not fewer,” Connolly said. “It is something that grows geometrically. If everything’s slow and we’re having more reporting it just becomes a bigger mess.

“We (Rape Response) don’t keep track by city — we keep track by county. There were 112 reported rapes in Lauderdale County in 2013. Approximately 20 to 25 (rape kits submitted in the county). It’s possible some were done that we don’t know about. We only survey (age) 14 and up, kits are done on people who are younger.”

Rape Response is a non-profit organization and is dedicated to the reduction of sexual violence, according to shoalscrisiscenter.org.

“We have no way of knowing that (rape kits were not tested),” Connolly said. “Law enforcement takes the kits and they submit them to the forensic examiners. Forensic examiners know how many they haven’t tested yet and the police know if they didn’t get any in.”

Lieutenant Mike Holt of the Criminal Investigations Division for the Florence Police Department said most Florence rape kits have been processed and returned.

“In 2013, 24 rapes and 15 sex offenses were reported in the city of Florence,” Holt said. “Out of nine rape kits that were submitted to labs in 2013, eight have been processed and returned.”

Though other states are having issues with rape kits not being tested, Alabama’s most imperative issue is not returning tested rape kits to victims in a timely manner, Connolly said.

“It’s also really critical that they (forensic examiners) test (rape kits) faster,” Connolly said. “The big problem in Alabama is that it takes many months (to get a rape kit back). Even a urine sample now is taking six months just to get back if there were drugs in someone’s system.”

Connolly thinks the state budget needs to be reevaluated to make rape kit testing of high importance.

“The money in the state budget has not been prioritized for that (forensic testing),” Connolly said. “I think the testing of rape kits, while not the most important issue in a state budget needs to move up the ladder and be seen as more important and therefore given larger funding.”

At the end of the day it comes down to not having enough money allocated to perform the tests quickly enough, she said.

“You hate to say it’s money but that’s the primary problem,” Connolly said. “It is a lengthy procedure, and it is trained people who have to do it and if you don’t have enough people and you don’t have enough labs — this is the inevitable result. It is simply investing (money in) the labs and the people.”