Las Vegas Sun

March 29, 2024

Democrats, Laxalt disagree on new time limits for rape kits

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Adam Laxalt

CARSON CITY — Nevada's Republican attorney general and Democratic legislators disagree on how the state should address a backlog of thousands of rape kits.

Attorney General Adam Laxalt earlier this year proposed requiring doctors to test forensic samples from sexual assault cases within 180 days of receiving them.

Democrats, who control the Legislature, are instead attempting only to mandate police send the kits to laboratories. Their measure would not impose a time limit on laboratories to test them.

They say that will cost the state $750,000 less annually than Laxalt's measure.

Deputy Attorney General Wes Duncan says about 6,400 rape kits were sitting untested in the state's two crime laboratories and police department evidence vaults as of mid-March.

Duncan and police officers say the backlog includes both solved and unsolved cases.