I’ve heard there’s a “backlog” of kits that haven’t been tested. What does that mean?

There is a lot of confusion about a “backlog” of untested sexual assault kits. Kits not submitted to a forensic lab for testing do not qualify as being “backlogged”; the term refers to the number of kits submitted to a lab for testing that have not yet undergone DNA analysis. Currently, the OSBI forensic laboratory has over 500 kits that are backlogged. This an increase from previous years, but is due in part to new laws that have passed requiring nearly all kits be submitted for analysis, in other words, more kits are being submitted for testing, which is a good thing and the desired outcome of this legislation.