FACT FINDER: Hundreds of Back Logged Rape Cases Waiting To Be Tested

Some startling statistics about rape in this country:

Every 2 minutes someone in the US is sexually assaulted.

One out of every six women will be a victim of sexual abuse in their lifetime.

But only six percent of rapists will ever go to jail.

Part of the problem - processing the forensic evidence that is now so critical to winning a conviction. Here in alabama, it can take years to get a rape kit processed.

Alabama forensic experts are staring down hundreds of back logged rape kits. Right now - it can take up to a year to process the average rape kit in Alabama - and that's actually a big improvement: Just recently the average wait was three years. It comes down to money. With the recent downturn in the economy, DNA experts are warning wait times are on their way back up.

There are almost 300 rape kits sitting on shelves at the Alabama Department of Forensic Sciences - just waiting to be processed. The testing is time consuming and expensive: from the chemicals, to the manual labor and visual inspection.

"DNA testing is the reason the cell door gets opened or the cell door gets closed," says Angelo Della Manna, Chief of Biology for the Alabama Department of Forensics.

Once testing begins, scientists usually spend at least a month and $1200 processing each rape kit. Alabama's crime lab in Hoover is new- specifically designed to process DNA. The high-tech facilities - plus an increase in federal funding - have allowed Della Manna's team to chip away at the back log:

In 2005, there were more than 900 untested cases. The average wait for results - 2-3 years. Now, the back log sits at 275 cases and the testing wait is six months to a year. Della Manna's team is also committed to processing older kits that were forgotten when the back log started building.

Some of these back-logged rape kits date back to 1990. So far the Forensics Team has solved 1600 old cases by processing these kits. That makes Alabama's Forensics Lab #1 in the nation per capita for solving cold cases.

But now - as the state's economy tightens - the crime lab - like many other state agencies - is staring down budget cuts.

"To have a potential big reduction in our budget is very frustrating because it will only allow more rapists and murderers to stay on the streets for a longer period of time," says Della Manna.

Calhoun County Sheriff's Deputy Steve Robertson specializes in rape investigations. He warns most rapists are repeat offenders: if they're free- they'll strike again.

"Absolutely. This is what they do. I've seen it happen many times," warns Robertson.

For robertson -DNA evidence is invaluable. He warns many of his cases won't go anywhere without it.

"I'd rather have a DNA match that anything. I'd rather have a DNA match than a positive id," explains Robertson.

"It's self reinforcing to the rapist. To think - I got away with it that time - 3 years have gone by and look nothing has happened," says Kirsten Stevenson, a rape counselor and executive director at Daybreak Crisis Recovery Center in Anniston.

Stevenson says for most victims - the 4 hour trauma of having a rape kit done is horrifying: "They call it the second rape because it is so invasive and humiliating," she says.

So if that kit then just sits on a shelf for years - it makes the recovery process that much harder.

"We can sit here and collect and heal all these victims and put them back into a normal functioning mode, but somebody at some point has got to get the rapist off the street, " says Stevenson.

A challenge Della Manna's team is trying to achieve. For them - one backlogged case is too many.

Della Manna estimates almost 4 rapes happen every day in Alabama. Several state lawmakers say - unfortunately Alabama just isn't bringing in as much money this year as in past years. The financial cuts to the Forensics Lab are part of an across the board funding reduction for just about every department listed in the General Fund.