Skip to content

Tuesday, Oct. 18, 2022

Was there a backlog of untested rape kits in Nevada while Catherine Cortez Masto was attorney general?

Todd Butterworth, The Nevada Independent
yes

Democratic U.S. Senator Catherine Cortez Masto was Nevada’s attorney general from 2007 to 2015. In 2014, it was revealed that Las Vegas police had more than 4,300 unprocessed rape kits and had only tested 16% of kits received since 2004.

Rape kit results are entered into an FBI database but often go untested because a victim decides not to press charges, a case is solved with other evidence or a lack of funding. By 2018, 95% of Nevada’s 7,300 backlogged rape kits had been tested, leading to 13 arrests. This was possible through grant and legal settlement funding secured by Adam Laxalt, Cortez Masto‘s successor as attorney general and her Republican opponent in the 2022 U.S. Senate election in Nevada.

Nevada’s attorney general does not have explicit legal responsibility related to rape test kit processing. However, many state attorneys general, such as Laxalt, spearheaded projects in the mid-2010s to reduce the backlog of untested kits. 

See a full discussion of this at The Nevada Independent

This fact brief is responsive to conversations such as this one.

Sources

About fact briefs

Fact briefs are bite-sized, well-sourced explanations that offer clear "yes" or "no" answers to questions, confusions, and unsupported claims circulating online. They rely on publicly available data and documents, often from the original source. Fact briefs are written and published by Gigafact contributor publications.

See all fact briefs

The Nevada Independent is a nonpartisan, nonprofit news and opinion website founded in 2017 by veteran political journalist and commentator Jon Ralston. The site and its supporting channels are focused on ethical, unbiased and transparent journalism. In general, we aim to gather and disseminate important public information and increase civic engagement. We are supported by corporate donations, memberships, event ticket sales and sponsorships and foundation grants. We disclose all our members and donors. Donors have no influence over our content, ever. The Nevada Independent is the dba for Nevada News Bureau, Inc., a 501(c)3 nonprofit founded in 2010 by Elizabeth Thompson, who now serves as one of The Nevada Independent's managing directors and its Editor.

Learn More

Latest Fact Briefs

Be a Friend of facts

Help us fund more great fact briefs like this one.