The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation is processing sexual assault evidence kits much faster than it did a year ago following a funding boost that allowed it to hire dozens of forensic scientists and support staff.

In July 2022, the bureau’s Jackson Crime Lab, which processes evidence from Memphis, took on average 50.7 weeks to process a rape kit — just days less than a full year.

By August 2023, that dropped to an average of 17.8 weeks.

TBI will not be required to analyze rape kits within 30 days as some hoped

The average for the TBI’s three labs, the other two are in Nashville and Knoxville, dropped from 45.4 weeks to 19.6 weeks from August 2022 to August 2023. The TBI expects the numbers to continue to improve as the new hires finish training.

“I’ve got nothing but good to say about the TBI’s efforts,” said state Sen. Brent Taylor, R-Memphis. “We’re certainly headed in the right direction. … Clearly, they were understaffed and underfunded, and that’s what created such a huge backlog.”

Quicker turnaround times allow victims to get justice faster and reduce the trauma inflicted by interminable court cases.

State Rep. Vincent Dixie, D-Nashville, among others, noted that since abortion was made illegal, some people are forced to give birth to their rapist’s baby before the kit is processed.

The TBI and the lawmakers who fund it have long faced criticism for the slow processing times. That criticism intensified last year after a Daily Memphian report revealed it took the bureau 11 months to connect Cleotha Henderson, Eliza Fletcher’s alleged killer, to a 2021 rape. Some argued if the rape kit had been processed faster, Henderson would not have been free to abduct Fletcher.

“I’ve got nothing but good to say about the TBI’s efforts. We’re certainly headed in the right direction. … Clearly, they were understaffed and underfunded, and that’s what created such a huge backlog.”

State Sen. Brent Taylor
R-Memphis

Gov. Bill Lee and the General Assembly gave the bureau funding for 50 new staffers total during the 2022 and 2023 legislative sessions; it has since hired 44 people, with three pending applications.

In addition to the new hires, the TBI used a federal grant to outsource 858 tests to a company based in Florida. The backlog of non-outsourced cases, according to the report, dropped from a 12-month high of 1,005 to 477.

But many, including the TBI, say the work isn’t finished.

State Rep. G.A. Hardaway, D-Memphis, said he wants Memphis to have its own crime lab; the TBI’s West Tennessee lab was moved from Memphis to Jackson in 2021. Hardaway said this arrangement means Memphis has to “beg for priority” over other places the Jackson lab draws from.

“We will get more than our money’s worth,” Hardaway said.

TBI data show rape kit turnaround times are long — and getting longer

And state Rep. Antonio Parkinson, D-Memphis, has vocally pushed for bills requiring a 30-day turnaround time.

“Thirty days is still my number, but if we’re trending down towards that number, I think that’s awesome,” Parkinson said. “Hopefully we won’t stall when we get close to that 30-day space and then become satisfied with where we are.”