One Wisconsin Now Statements on Attorney General Brad Schimel’s Handling of Untested Rape Kit Backlog

MADISON, Wis. — Wisconsin Attorney General Brad Schimel today tried to distract from criticism over his failure to address a backlog of untested rape kits in a timely manner by declaring he is sending untested evidence to private vendors for testing.

The following are the statements of One Wisconsin Now Executive Director Scot Ross:

“Millions of dollars and years later Wisconsin still has large numbers of untested rape kits, potentially leaving perpetrators of assaults free to walk our streets instead of being brought to justice.

“With his election on the horizon, Brad Schimel is desperately trying to explain away this failure on his watch. But untested rape kits are just that, untested. Schimel announcing that years later he’s sending the kits to private vendors does not change that fact.”