Welcome to the Evidence Management Community of Practice Newsletter
This monthly newsletter from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) is an effort by the Evidence Management Steering Committee (EMSC) to provide educational opportunities and share information with evidence management stakeholders. The EMSC is funded by NIST and the National Institute of Justice (NIJ). Each issue will include relevant articles and highlight upcoming events and training opportunities.
If you missed our first issue, you can find it here.
Ask the Steering Committee
This is the first article in a series on the topic of sexual assault kit (SAK) evidence handling. It provides an overview of SAK storage challenges, overarching requirements, and best practices. Subsequent newsletters will address evidence data management and other considerations, such as when victim non-reporting occurs. All references and their supporting links can be found at the bottom of the article.
When the EMSC interacts with evidence handlers, questions about the storage of sexual assault evidence often come up. During the Evidence Management Conference in October 2019 (archived presentations and footage can be found here), audience members asked questions such as:
“Does your agency have a designated area for storage of sexual assault kits?”
“What is a reliable process for tracking [the movement of] evidence across multiple organizations?”
“Do you recommend storing sexual assault kits that contain swabs (not liquid blood) in a temperature-controlled refrigerator long-term?”
“It sounds like the best practice for [storing] SAEKs [sexual assault evidence kit] containing swabs is room temp. Is there published research to support this?”
SAKs or SAEKs, sometimes colloquially referred to as “rape kits,” contain tools and instructions for collecting evidence from sexual assault victims. Kits vary by jurisdiction or agency. As kits make their way from collection to analysis to adjudication, handling and coordination among diverse stakeholders can present significant challenges to evidence preservation.
BACKGROUND: Sexual violence is surprisingly common. It is also under-reported. Studies (see references below) have shown that sexual assaults occur in the United States at a rate of one every 73 seconds. This places an enormous and complex responsibility on our health and criminal justice systems to ensure that survivors are appropriately served. The management and preservation of evidence collected from survivors is an important aspect of this issue that is often overlooked.
THE PROBLEM: Laws, policies, and rules that govern the handling of sexual assault cases and evidence vary widely across the United States and within individual states and local jurisdictions. Insufficient training, guidelines, resources, and coordination among stakeholders create obstacles to the appropriate storage and handling of sexual assault evidence.
Victims of sexual assault may or may not decide to report the event to law enforcement. The Violence Against Women Act of 2012 seeks to improve survivors’ access to resources by requiring free sexual assault examinations, regardless of whether the victim chooses to report. This can complicate SAK storage since law enforcement agencies may or may not be involved. In addition, as many practitioners have noted, the increased number of kits and costs of testing can strain already limited resources.
When a victim does report a crime and arrives at a hospital, clinic, or medical facility, they are often met with personnel who are not trained in the specialized and sensitive care the victim needs. Ideally, a forensic nurse specialist (e.g. sexual assault nurse examiner) will conduct a forensic medical evaluation. Forensic nurses have specialized training in sexual assault care and are able to conduct an examination and appropriately collect and store relevant evidence. When no forensic nurse is available, hospital emergency department providers typically read the kit instructions, collect samples, and complete the forensic report form packaged in the SAK. However, in such cases, the collector often does not have the specialized training necessary to properly safeguard evidence obtained from the examination.
In addition, many hospitals and health care organizations without forensic nursing services have unstructured retention and release procedures for SAK evidence and its transfer to law enforcement or laboratories. This can raise chain of custody issues that make cases vulnerable to management and legal challenges regarding collection, packaging, labeling, preservation, or tracking of evidence. When hospitals and health care organizations do not have structured procedures and trained personnel in place, they can add to the psychological trauma of sexual violence survivors.
An additional problem arises from uncertainty around the question of who is responsible for storage. In 2014, a study conducted by the Urban Institute and funded by NIJ identified three commonly used storage methods in the United States: law enforcement storage, non-law enforcement storage, and anonymous storage. In the law enforcement storage model, kits are collected by medical facilities and then transferred to law enforcement. In non-law enforcement storage, kits are collected by medical facilities and then stored by the collecting facility. In anonymous storage, kits from victims who choose to remain anonymous are provided to the law enforcement agency, which then stores the kit and decides whether an investigation is opened and if the kit should be analyzed by a forensic lab.
This study identified wide variation in the way state and local jurisdictions implement these models, including the length of time for which kits are stored. Confusion about appropriate storage practices, the roles of various stakeholders, and the use of different storage models was common.
THE SOLUTION: Coordination is needed to determine whether health care agencies, law enforcement, forensic laboratories, or courts should be responsible for the long-term preservation and management of SAKs. This is a particular need when dealing with kits from cases in which the victim chooses not to report. This will be discussed in detail in a subsequent article later in this series.
Ideally, each jurisdiction has a coordinated community response (CCR) team made up of sexual assault responders (SARs) that collaborate on providing care for victims. The CCR team includes health care providers, law enforcement, laboratory personnel, and advocates, each with distinct roles that must be understood and agreed upon. CCR team members must also agree on policies for packaging, transfer, and storage of evidence.
CCR teams must consider the following overarching principles for SAK storage:
- Evidence should be dried and stored in a temperature-controlled environment whenever possible.
a. Depending on the contents of the SAK and related evidence collected, climate procedures should be developed based on existing scientific research. At a minimum, all wet evidence should be dried as soon as possible and maintained in a temperature-controlled environment (temperature requirements vary based on contents of the SAK). Guidelines and related scientific literature for environmental storage conditions can be found on the NIST website.
b. Generally, samples should be maintained as defined by the laboratory standards agreed to in the CCR team meetings.
- Tracking of the SAK and related data must be detailed, accurate, and secure.
a. Evidence must be efficiently tracked to maintain chain of custody from collection through evidence transfer and storage. All access to the evidence must be documented.
b. A method must be developed for informing the sexual assault victim if a report is generated.
c. If desired by the victim, anonymity must be maintained across testing and storage locations, including law enforcement and the forensic laboratory regardless of reporting status.
d. A means for secure transfer of SAK and related evidence and information from location to location, such as from law enforcement agency to laboratory, must be provided.
- SAKs must be securely stored in a way that prevents contamination, loss, or premature degradation.
a. Secure is defined as “a locked storage area with controlled access and tracking of storage area access and SAKs.”
b. Secure includes being temperature-controlled. Blood should be refrigerated (DO NOT freeze) in glass tubes. Fluids other than blood and wet items should be refrigerated until they can be dried or rapidly transferred to the forensic laboratory or law enforcement. Dry evidence should be kept at room temperature.
- Specific evidence management policies, including procedures for collection, preservation, and storage, must be consistent across agencies handling the evidence and conform to current legislation.
a. Polices should be developed collaboratively by the CCR/SAR team or similar groups of relevant stakeholders.
b. Victims should be notified of policies regarding storage, tracking, retrieval, and destruction of the SAK, regardless of the kit’s reporting status.
Sexual Assault Kit Storage Best Practices
NIJ and NIST regularly consult sexual assault forensic experts to assist in providing guidance to law enforcement and hospital and health care organizations in the packaging, storage, tracking, and transfer of SAKs. The EMSC is developing a report on best practices for evidence management which will be useful in creating policies, procedures, and practices that will aid in improving the process of managing evidence related to sexual violence.
In the interim, there are several sources for useful best practices including:
The Biological Evidence Preservation Handbook: Best Practices for Evidence Handlers
This document provides information on the appropriate storage of biological evidence. Most notably, it includes a review of existing literature and provides practical guidance on environmental storage conditions. This handbook was authored by the NIST/NIJ Working Group on Biological Evidence Preservation.
Other useful documents produced in consultation with this technical working group include:
RFID in Forensic Evidence Management
This document provides an overview of automated identification technologies that could be used for forensic evidence tracking.
Biological Evidence Preservation: Considerations for Policy Makers
This document is an in-depth study of biological evidence preservation statutes nationwide.
National Best Practices for Sexual Assault Kits: A Multidisciplinary Approach
This document provides detailed guidance on the collection, tracking, and storage of SAKs, some of which is based on research from the reports listed above. It also contains recommendations about the contents of sexual assault kits. See excerpts below.
Exhibit 9 on page 39 describes short-term storage conditions for biological evidence items commonly found in SAKs:
Exhibit 10 on page 41 describes long-term storage conditions for biological evidence items commonly found in SAKs:
 Credit: National Institute of Justice. (2017). National Best Practices for Sexual Assault Kits: A Multidisciplinary Approach. Retrieved from https://nij.gov/topics/law-enforcement/investigations/sexual-assault/Pages/national-best-practices-for-sexual-assault-kits.aspx
Existing ASTM International Committee on Forensic Science (E30) Standards
The ASTM E30 Forensic Science Committee produces standards for various forensic science disciplines. Below are several standards relevant to SAK storage. Membership is required for access to the standards listed below. Alternately, the Organization of Scientific Area Committees (OSAC) for Forensic Science, through NIST, provides free access to these standards to several stakeholder groups.
E2123 – Standard Practice for Transmittal of Evidence in a Sexual Assault Investigation
E2124 – Standard for Specification of Equipment and Supplies in Sexual Assault Investigations
E1843 – Standard Guide for Sexual Assault Investigation, Examination, and Evidence Collection
International Association of Property and Evidence (IAPE) Standards
The IAPE also produces standards relevant to the management of sexual assault evidence. NIST and NIJ have collaborated with IAPE in the development of guidance and IAPE has several members serving on the EMSC.
IAPE Professional Standards: Section 3.3, Section 4.5, Section 4.6, Section 7.5
References and Additional Educational Links:
Abner, E. L., Teaster, P. B., Mendiondo, M. S., Ramsey-Klawsnik, H., Marcum, J. L., Crawford, T. N., & Wangmo, T. (2016). Victim, Allegation, and Investigation Characteristics Associated with Substantiated Reports of Sexual Abuse of Adults in Residential Care Settings. J Interpers Violence, 886260516672051. doi:10.1177/0886260516672051
Carlisle, M. (2019, April 7). A New System to Ensure Sexual-Assault Cases Aren’t Forgotten. The Atlantic. Retrieved from https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2019/04/many-states-are-adopting-rape-kit-tracking-systems/586531/
DeCou, C. R., Cole, T. T., Lynch, S. M., Wong, M. M., & Matthews, K. C. (2017). Assault-related shame mediates the association between negative social reactions to disclosure of sexual assault and psychological distress. Psychological Trauma: Theory, Research, Practice and Policy, 9(2), 166-172. doi:10.1037/tra0000186
Department of Justice. (2018) Office of Justice Programs, Bureau of Justice Statistics, National Crime Victimization Survey. Retrieved from https://www.bjs.gov/index.cfm?ty=dcdetail&iid=245
Department of Justice (2018, August). National Training Standards for Sexual Assault Medical Forensic Examiners U.S. Department of Justice Office on Violence Against Women. Received May 7, 2020 from https://www.justice.gov/ovw/page/file/1090006/download
Donde, S. D., Ragsdale, S. K. A., Koss, M. P., & Zucker, A. N. (2018). If It Wasn't Rape, Was It Sexual Assault? Comparing Rape and Sexual Assault Acknowledgment in College Women Who Have Experienced Rape. Violence Against Women, 24(14), 1718-1738. doi:10.1177/1077801217743339
Keene, G. (2018, June 1). Preserving VAWA's "non-report" option: a call for the proper storage of anonymous/unreported rape kits Washington Law Review, 93(2), 1089-1119.
Magalhaes, T., Dinis-Oliveira, R. J., Silva, B., Corte-Real, F., & Nuno Vieira, D. (2015). Biological Evidence Management for DNA Analysis in Cases of Sexual Assault. The Scientific World Journal, 2015, 365674. doi:10.1155/2015/365674
National Institute of Justice. (2017). National Best Practices for Sexual Assault Kits: A Multidisciplinary Approach. Retrieved from https://nij.gov/topics/law-enforcement/investigations/sexual-assault/Pages/national-best-practices-for-sexual-assault-kits.aspx
Newmark, L., Zweig, J., Denver, M., & Raja, D. (2014, May). VAWA 2005 and sexual assault medical forensic exams: kit storage issues. Retrieved from Urban Institute Brief 3, Washington DC https://www.urban.org/sites/default/files/publication/32586/413120-VAWA-and-Sexual-Assault-Medical-Forensic-Exams-Kit-Storage-Issues.pdf
National Institute of Standards and Technology. (2019, November 15). NIST/NIJ Technical Working Group on Biological Evidence Preservation. Forensic Science. Retrieved May 7, 2020 from https://www.nist.gov/topics/forensic-science/nistnij-technical-working-group-biological-evidence-preservation
Pope, P. (2020, January 7). Exhibit A: Tips for Modern DNA Evidence Storage [Interview: Joe Latta, a certified property evidence specialist with the International Association for Property and Evidence, Incorporated]. Retrieved from https://blog.pattersonpope.com/blog/exhibit-a-tips-for-modern-dna-evidence-storage
Technical Working Group on Biological Evidence Preservation. (2014). The Biological Evidence Preservation Handbook: Best Practices for Evidence Handlers. (NISTIR 7928). U.S. Department of Commerce and NIST. Retrieved May 7, 2020 from https://nvlpubs.nist.gov/nistpubs/ir/2013/NIST.IR.7928.pdf
Violence Against Women Act (VAWA), (2012). Retrieved from https://www.congress.gov/bill/112th-congress/senate-bill/1925
Zweig, J., Newmark, L., Raja, D., & Denver, M. (2014, July). Sexual Assault Medical Forensic Exams and VAWA 2005: Payment Practices, Successes, and Directions for the Future. National Criminal Justice Reference Service Retrieved May 7, 2020 from https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/grants/247314.pdf
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