Zionsville Rep. Becky Cash: Funding helping address state’s rape kit backlog

An infusion of state funding is helping Indiana State Police address a backlog of unprocessed rape kits at its crime labs. State Rep. Becky Cash (R-Zionsville) spearheaded legislation in 2025 that led to ISP receiving funds to test more kits. Funding went toward more robots for DNA analysis. A rape kit stores physical evidence such as hairs and bodily fluids and contains supplies such as swabs and glass slides. Cash said the backlog, which prior to the additional funding, ranged between 600 and 800 kits, was predominantly because the state’s crime labs don’t just process DNA for sexual assault cases. The court schedule also plays a part. A sexual assault case needs forensics to go to court, but if another type of case already has a court date a rape kit gets put aside, according to Cash. “By buying more robots, they can obviously process more (evidence) … in general and rape kits,” Cash said. Cash said the backlog was down to 482 as of May 27. Cash’s legislation did not pass. The Senate did not vote on it, but the funding made it into ISP’s budget. Despite $2.6 billion being cut from the state’s budget, the line item for ISP was spared. Cash said it’s rare to secure funding without the language getting approved. Cash had hoped some of the funding could be used to pay the scientists who process the kits, to offer competitive wages, but the funds can only be used for infrastructure. Her bill would have allowed funds to be used for salaries. “We will continue to work on that,” Cash said. Cash said efforts to address the backlog have garnered national attention. “Indiana went from bad to good,” she said. “This legislation really put us on the map in getting the backlog down.” Cash said addressing the backlog will benefit victims, possibly exonerate the innocent and hopefully encourage other sexual assault victims to come forward. “We need to build trust in the system,” she said. Cash requested the state legislature’s Interim Study Committee on Public Health, Behavioral Health and Human Services to study the development and implementation of a statewide sexual assault response plan for law enforcement agencies. The goal is to have a consistent model in place across all agencies for when a victim come forward with sexual assault allegations. “There is not a consistency between police departments and law enforcement agencies,” Cash said. While some victims have had good experiences discussing their abuse with police, Cash said others have found it traumatizing. “They were treated like they had done something wrong,” she said. Additionally, Cash said there is work to be done to address the shortage of nurses who are qualified to administer a rape kit. “It’s really looking at all things surrounding that,” she said. Related posts: No related posts. Share. Tumblr