An investigation reveals there is a large number of unexamined sex crime evidence kits across Illinois.
The Illinois crime lab found more than 4,000 cases of old untested rape kits statewide, according to the Chicago Tribune.
These kits include utensils used to collect potential DNA evidence from people who claim they were sexually assaulted.
This information surfaced under a new law in Illinois, which now forces agencies to test potential DNA evidence from reported sex crimes within 10 days of collecting it, according to the Chicago Tribune.
The new law was implemented after an investigation by the Tribune, which uncovered how police and prosecutors stored unexamined kits for long periods of time without solving the cases for the victims.
The Tribune reports state officials are going to outsource most of the old kits to a private lab to get them tested, and they plan to test all of them by 2015.
