San Francisco Police Use Rape Victims' DNA To Link Them To Crimes

SAN FRANCISCO, CA — The San Francisco district attorney and several organizations are denouncing a newly uncovered police practice after a crime lab used a victim's rape exam to link her to a crime.

Chesa Boudin, district attorney of San Francisco, revealed at a news conference Monday that a law enforcement database with DNA collected from sexual assault victims is searched and used to identify possible suspects.

Victims who report sexual assault are often asked to consent to undergoing an invasive, often-traumatizing exam, during which biological evidence from bodily fluids, fingernail scrapings, and bite and scratch marks is collected from their body. The victim also submits their own DNA sample in order to exclude DNA that comes from the victim, as opposed to the suspect.

The crime lab searches a database of DNA evidence — which contains thousands of samples DNA collected over years from sexual assault victims — to try to identify suspects and subsequently charge them with crimes.

Boudin's office learned of the practice last week when a woman's rape kit DNA sample linked her to a felony property crime and led to her arrest. The rape exam stemmed from a years-old domestic violence and sexual abuse case.

“I am disturbed that victims who have the courage to undergo an invasive examination to help identify their perpetrators are being treated like criminals rather than supported as crime victims,” Boudin said in a news release. “We should encourage survivors to come forward — not collect evidence to use against them in the future. This practice treats victims like evidence, not human beings. This is legally and ethically wrong."

Boudin said such a practice could discourage rape victims from coming forward. He demanded that police immediately end the practice and urged lawmakers to draft legislation banning the practice in California.

It wasn't immediately known how many times a sex assault victim's DNA has been used to incriminate them in a later case.

Bill Scott, the city's police chief, told the San Francisco Chronicle that the questions raised by the district attorney were “sufficiently concerning” and he asked his operations chief to work with the investigations unit to review the practice and report back to him and the district attorney's office.

He added, "we must never create disincentives for crime victims to cooperate with police, and if it’s true that DNA collected from a rape or sexual assault victim has been used by SFPD to identify and apprehend that person as a suspect in another crime, I’m committed to ending the practice.”

Use Of Rape Kit DNA To Identify Suspects Denounced

Multiple prominent politicians and organizations spoke out against the practice, including state Sen. Scott Wiener, the American Civil Liberties Union and the city's office of sexual harassment and assault response and prevention.

Wiener noted that sexual assault is severely traumatizing and that coming forward to provide a rape kit sample can be "re-traumatizing." If survivors think their DNA could end up being used against them in the future, that's just one more reason not to go through with the rape kit process, he said.

"That’s why I’m working with the DA’s office to address this problem through state legislation, if needed," he said.

Hillary Ronen, member of the city's Board of Supervisors from the 9th District, said victims face enough barriers when it comes to reporting sexual assault.

“I have asked to the City Attorney to draft legislation to prevent DNA evidence — or any sort of evidence from a victim’s rape kit — to be used for anything other than investigating that rape. Rape victims’ DNA should be protected at all levels of government, anywhere," she said.

The ACLU said the practice violates the victim's privacy by submitting a victim's DNA profile into a criminal database, and then maintaining that profile for reasons other than the case they're investigating.

“Federal law rightly prohibits the police from uploading these types of samples into the national Combined DNA Index System, which is used to match DNA samples collected from crimes scenes with those collected from people convicted of or in some cases arrested for crimes," said Michael Risher of counsel at the ACLU Northern California.

The state's constitution, he said, expressly protects privacy rights and victims’ rights.

Marginalized Communities Affected Most By Practice

Black women are disproportionately impacted by sexual violence and are particularly reluctant to report sexual violence to the police. Members of the LGBTQ community are also disproportionately impacted by sexual assault and face added barriers to reporting such crimes. This, Boudin's office said, makes eliminating barriers to reporting and undergoing sex assault testing even more important.

KellyLou Densmore, director of the office of sexual harassment and assault response and prevention, said the legal system is not designed to support sex abuse survivors.

The latest revelation underscores that truth, Densmore said.

“I am disturbed to learn that DNA from rape kits is being retained to use against survivors in the future, and I commend DA Boudin for drawing attention to this shameful practice," Densmore said.

Orchid Pusey, executive director of the Asian Women’s Shelter, said the practice could be particularly frightening for survivors who are immigrants or non-native English speakers.

The practice could also have a "chilling effect to Black women and women of color," said Pamela Tate, co-executive director of Black Women Revolt Against Domestic Violence.

"Rape survivors do not give law enforcement a blanket waiver of their rights to not self-incriminate," Tate said.