Use of a Sexual Assault Victim’s Rape Kit DNA in a Later Prosecution of that Same Victim

By Robert Phillips, Deputy District Attorney (Ret).

Use of a Sexual Assault Victim’s Rape Kit DNA in a Later Prosecution of that Same Victim 

The San Francisco’s District Attorney Chesa Boudin recently announced (as reported in the San Francisco Chronical) that he was dropping “felony property charges” previously filed against a woman in a case submitted by the San Francisco Police Department.  The stated reason for the dismissal is that she was apparently identified and charged solely through the use of her own DNA which she herself, as a sexual assault victim, had previously provided by submitting to a “rape kit” examination.  (No further details were provided out of respect for her privacy.)  

DA Boudin stated that he was disturbed to learn that using rape kit DNA to later identify and charge women in unrelated criminal cases is “a routine practice not only in San Francisco but at other crime labs across the state.”  Referring to this practice as “unlawful,” and “legally and ethically wrong,” the DA vowed not to allow the practice in San Francisco’s courts.  But is such a ....

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