It's interesting to hear an Attorney General who has held office for nearly a decade railing against law enforcement's failure to automatically gather DNA evidence from rape kits. In her Huffington Post column on September 29, Madigan called failure to test rape kits "a national embarassment," and took credit for enacting a law that requires all rape kits to be tested for DNA. She was motivated, she says, by a human rights watch report that said less than 20 percent of rape kits were sent to crime labs for testing. 
One thing obviously missing from Madigan's column is an apology. Madigan notes that New York City enacted mandatory rape kit testing in 2001, and saw a dramatic increase in rape arrests as a result. Why did it take Madigan nine years to follow New York's lead? How many rape victims will go without justice because of Madigan's unbelievably slow response to this clear deficit? Why did it take a Human Rights Watch report to notify Madigan of the low rate of rape kit testing?
I am very happy that law enforcement is now testing every rape kit. I am outraged, however, that it took Lisa Madigan's office nine years to get around to addressing this issue. And I am disgusted that Madigan is using rape as a campaign issue after her office has ignored it for so long. The people of Illinois deserve an apology for Lisa's neglect of this issue. Rape victims deserve much more - justice.