Wisconsin Attorney Brad Schimel defending his agency's handling of untested rape kits.
Schimel says there's no "backlog." PolitiFact Wisconsin says not so fast.
The state is in the process of testing thousands of rape kits that have accumulated over the years in evidence rooms.
But Schimel says it's unfair to suggest there is a "backlog" of untested kits.
"He says the state does not have a 'backlog' of rape kits to be tested’,” said Tom Kertscher with the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
PolitiFact Wisconsin points out these are not current cases.
Schimel says they include victims who chose not pursue charges, or defendants who confessed or the cases have already been resolved.
But there is a reason why the state is looking at the 3,800 untested kits.
"The state has committed to testing those kits with the hope that perhaps they would find a perpetrator in an unsolved case," Kertscher said.
In 2015 the state received $4 million in federal money to test the kits.
PolitiFact Wisconsin rated Schimel claim “Pants on Fire” because the AG was disagreeing with himself based on his own previous statements.
"It's false because there's a backlog of some 3,800 rape kits that have not been tested," Kertscher said, "and the Attorney General himself has used the word backlog in asking for grants to pay for the testing."
The Attorney General's office says the 3,800 kits will be tested only if the rape survivor consents. The state has contracted with a private lab to do the testing.
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