Illinois State Police complete 'Section 20' sexual assault evidence a year ahead of schedule

More than 4,100 cases submitted from local agencies

[December 23, 2013]  SPRINGFIELD — Illinois State Police officials announced last week that forensic analysis of sexual assault cases submitted under Section 20 of the Sexual Assault Evidence Submission Act (PA 96-1011) has been completed ahead of schedule.

Gov. Pat Quinn signed this law in 2010, changing how law enforcement agencies address the submission of sexual assault evidence to forensic laboratories for analysis. Under Section 20 of the act, all law enforcement agencies were required to submit for analysis all criminal sexual assault cases in their possession that had not previously been submitted to a forensic laboratory.

The act required Illinois State Police to submit a plan by Feb. 15, 2011, to address the analysis of the "Section 20" cases and to include a timeline and resources necessary for analysis. The plan estimated that more than 4,000 of these cases, some dating back to 1978, had not been analyzed and were expected to be submitted. The initiative was projected to be completed by the end of 2014.

The Illinois State Police and the attorney general's office have worked cooperatively with law enforcement agencies to promote compliance with reporting and submitting the Section 20 cases for analysis. Since agencies began submitting these cases in early 2011, the Illinois State Police laboratories received a total of 4,138.

In an effort to analyze the older Section 20 cases and address the current cases, ISP determined that outsourcing was necessary. A total of 3,513 of these cases were outsourced, 529 were analyzed at ISP laboratories, and 96 were canceled for administrative reasons.

To date, ISP reports that DNA profiles developed from Section 20 cases have resulted in 927 matches to the Combined DNA Index System, known as CODIS. All forensic results, including CODIS information, have been reported to the investigating agency. It is each agency's responsibility to determine the significance of the forensic information to the investigation and if any further action is required.

The ISP Section 20 project was completed on Nov. 13, more than a year ahead of the schedule outlined in the original plan.

Both the original 2011 ISP plan (PDF) to analyze the Section 20 cases and the 2013 final report (PDF) on that initiative are available on the Illinois State Police website, http://www.isp.state.il.us/.

[Text from file received from the Illinois State Police]