By Erik Gamm and Mitch Morrissey

DNA evidence, where it’s available, is crucial to solving sexual assault cases—according to one study, it raises the likelihood of a guilty verdict from less than a third to nearly 75%. The trouble and expense of processing it, however, can create backlogs that put cases on hold for years. Dozens of state and local law-enforcement agencies have faced this problem over the decades since DNA technology emerged.

This year, due in part to years of alleged misconduct by one of its forensic scientists, the Colorado Bureau of Investigation (CBI) found itself with a queue of more than 1,400 untested sexual assault kits and without the means to process new ones promptly. The unsolved cases stuck in this backlog represent substantial further crime risks from repeat offenders, delayed justice for victims, and tangible costs to Colorado’s economy.

Key Findings

By processing all of the 1,369 DNA kits in the state’s backlog, Colorado could prosecute up to 200 rape cases.

This would also prevent up to 1,030 sexual assaults, 108 other violent crimes, 230 property offenses, and 113 drug/alcohol, public disorder, and other crimes.

At a testing cost of $2,000 per kit and adjudication, public-services, and work-loss costs totaling $82,000 per case, clearing the backlog and prosecuting cases associated with it will cost the state $21 million. In return, Colorado’s economy will eventually save $234.7 million due to prevention of future crimes.

The longer authorities take to clear the backlog, the larger the costs and smaller the savings will become.

CSI estimates that, by training 15 more DNA scientists over the next year, CBI will clear its DNA backlog of excess kits by July 2027. Delayed processing of kits currently in the backlog, which are expected to be tested by September 2026, will have allowed $51.8 million worth of additional criminal activity.

Even kits that don't lead to convictions are worth testing for the qualitative benefits they offer, like identifying deceased and incarcerated perpetrators, adding to the national DNA database, and providing closure to victims.

Greenwood Village, CO: Common Sense Institute, 2025. 12p.

By George Brauchler, Mitch Morrissey, Chris Brown, & Alexa Eastburg

Crime has undeniably and dramatically increased over the last decade in Colorado. The pandemic-related policy restrictions and resulting economic disruptions brought further stress to society, which exacerbated problems related to crime. The result has been billions of dollars in additional costs borne by Coloradans. These costs are felt in many ways, both directly by the victims, and indirectly by the community. It is important to distill the jaw-dropping impact of crime down to numbers that everyone can grasp. The numbers show trends and enable conclusions, which in turn can be tested. Numbers remove the emotional impact and personal tragedy of crime and lead to dispassionate, practical solutions to what is, in part, an economic issue. All victims know that crime is intensely personal. Most people never fully recover from the impact of being victimized. Behind every statistic of violent crime, theft of valued possessions or any violation of one’s right to live a safe and secure life, is a person and that person’s family and friends – are each damaged by a criminal act. The primary and consistent policy trend in Colorado has been to discourage the jailing of those arrested for committing crimes and to reduce the severity of punishment for those convicted. However well intended, these recent policies must be monitored to ensure the costs from the unintended – albeit predictable consequences do not outweigh the anticipated benefits. Given the concerning trends and high costs, it is imperative that policy makers implement timely, transparent, and actionable accountability metrics, that allow them to diagnose specific system level problems and individual policy decisions across the multiple dimensions of criminal justice in Colorado. Let us move forward with the important work of understanding the impact of public policy on the lives of our community. While we’re interpreting data and delving deeper into cause-and-effect, we must also remember the thousands and thousands of victims who have suffered and deserve justice. Colorado’s crime surge increased over the last two years but started long before the pandemic - - - From 2010 through 2019, Colorado’s population-adjusted annual murder rate increased by an annual average of 8%, motor vehicle theft by 6%, and assault by 3%. Average monthly crime in 2021 per 100,000 Coloradans is 28% higher than in 2011, and 11% higher than in 2020 The monthly murder rate increased 20% in both 2019 and 2020. The 2021 total rate of crime is 14% higher than it was in 2019. This trend exceeds the 12% increase Colorado experienced between 2009 and 2012. etc........

Greenwood Village, CO, Common Sense Institute, 2021. 27p.