DECATUR, Ill. (WAND) - Earlier in July, Gov. JB Pritzker signed a law that removes the statute of limitations for criminal sexual assault in Illinois.
The statute of limitations for criminal sexual assault is currently within 10 years of when the crime was committed if the victim reports it within three years. The move at the state level removes the statute starting Jan. 1, and is another step toward victims getting justice.
In the past few years, the state of Illinois has also started taking action to address crime lab testing backlog. Officials say advances in DNA testing have made it possible to solve decades-old cases with evidence that wasn't available at the time.
That's why this legislation is so important now, because it gives victims more time. As Macon County State's Attorney Jay Scott shared, forensic testing can take a while.
"One thing people need to realize is it's not like the TV shows, where you get fingerprints back. You always got a fingerprint, you've always got DNA, and you get it back in 30 minutes,” said Scott. “You know, it is a very slow process."
Again, the new law taking effect helps give victims more opportunity to seek justice. It also helps take the pressure off the State Crime Lab, which is still working to tackle its backlog.
For Fiscal Year 2019, the backlog of Illinois State Police Crime Lab assignments was at 8,776. To put that into perspective, a single case can have many assignments or tests that one sample of DNA or a case has to go through. Obviously, this takes time, which can either make or break a case.
"We had a couple of cases, cold cases, from the Decatur Police Department, the Halloween murders from back in the '80's and there was another murder from 1988, were actually linked to the same perpetrator,” shared Scott. “(The suspect) was deceased by the time we found out, but it solved those old cold cases with the DNA, which is really very helpful for the families."
Scott said there's several ways the testing can be used.
"Sexual assault, burglaries where somebody might've left their blood behind, a cigarette butt we can have it tested for DNA. A lot of different things go for fingerprint analysis, (like) guns,” he explained. “So those are things we can really use to build cases for prosecution."
The problem? The advances in technology to test smaller amounts of DNA have upped the case load for the Illinois State Police Crime Lab. Factor in a shortage of funding and staff to handle this intricate process, and Illinois continues to face a backlog of assignments.
"It can take several months for us to get results back from the crime lab. They handle cases from a lot of different counties and they have a busy, busy workload,” said the state’s attorney. “So, it's from the backlog that it can take months to get back results in different types of forensic testing."
One of the scariest scenarios tied to this backlog can be corrected. But if there's a backlog, who knows how long it could take.
"The worst nightmare of a prosecutor is to have somebody locked up for something they didn't do. We would never want that to happen. So sometimes, it does provide evidence that someone did not commit the crime, and that's very important," said Scott.
That’s one reason why Scott said he's in favor of more resources for the Illinois State Police Crime Lab.
Illinois State Police said there are many challenges being tackled right now to lower their backlog. ISP is working to hire more people to handle assignments, streamlining the DNA testing process and working to improve technology.
