TBA Law Blog


Posted by: Julia Wilburn on Mar 7, 2023

Tennessee is outsourcing the testing of at least 550 rape kits to a private Florida lab through a $1.5 million federal grant, the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation (TBI) announced Monday in a move aimed at reducing processing times, reports the Associated Press. In a news release, the TBI said it plans to submit up to 1,000 rape kits if more grant funding becomes available by the end of the year, at a cost of $2,155 per kit. The state’s turnaround times for sexual assault kits entered the spotlight after the high-profile killing of teacher Eliza Fletcher in September. The man charged with killing Fletcher was charged in a 2021 rape of a different woman shortly afterward, when the rape kit from that case was finally processed.