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Abstract: 

In Maryland, it has taken nearly a quarter century for state legislators and law enforcement to change the state’s policies such that sexual assault cases and their victims are more or less on par with other types of crimes and victims. Looking back to the 1970s and 1980s when the Baltimore Police Department’s Sex Crimes Unit admitted destroying evidence if cases did not close quickly, the changes today are welcome. Baltimore’s current focus on modernizing sex crime laws and policies suggests, with regard to sex crime victimization, a propitious new dawn after a dismal age of cave-dwelling. This article reviews the history of the BPD’s mishandling of evidence and the new policies established to reverse course and pursue rape cases with the focus and resources they warrant.

Keywords: Untested Rape Kits; Rape Kit Backlog; Dr. Rudiger Breitenecker; Reopending Cold Cases

Affiliations:  1: Editor.