Two days ago, a Human Rights Watch report was released showing that there are at least 12,669 untested rape kits in Los Angeles County, the largest known backlog of its kind in the US.

Holy. Crap.

They estimated that thousands more rape kits have been destroyed in LA County as well. Interviews showed that many of the rape victims assumed that the DNA did not match in the database or no evidence was found when they did not hear their results. According to Ms. Magazine:

The backlog on rape kits is not unique to Los Angeles, and 2004 federal legislation advocated by the Feminist Majority and other women's rights groups, renewed this year, addressed the problem by authorizing funding for local police departments to catch up on DNA analyses. L.A.'s crime lab was awarded nearly $4 million, but lost nearly $500,000 of that due to lax oversight. And the backlog has worsened.

It really saddens me that when terrified women can muster up just enough courage to undergo a humiliating and time-consuming rape kit, their evidence is not even tested. It's a horrifying thought and it really makes me lose any faith I had left in our justice system.