Use of Rape-Kit DNA to Probe Other Crimes Shocks Prosecutors

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — The San Francisco district attorney’s stunning claim that California crime labs are using DNA from sexual assault survivors to investigate unrelated crimes shocked prosecutors nationwide.

Get our free mobile app

Advocates fear that the practice could affect victims’ willingness to come forward.

District Attorney Chesa Boudin said he became aware of the practice last week after prosecutors found a report among hundreds of pages of evidence in the case against a woman recently charged with a felony property crime.

The papers referred to a DNA sample collected from the woman during a 2016 rape investigation.