Hundreds of thousands of rape kits sit untested in the United States, according to the website endthebacklog.org, a site dedicated to educating the public about the backlog.

Rape kits consist of DNA evidence that, when tested, can be a tool to solve and prevent crimes involving sexual assault and rape. A rape kit can identify an unknown assailant and confirm a survivor’s account of an attack. The kit’s evidence can connect the suspect to other crime and exonerate innocent suspects.

To accomplish all of that, however, rape kits must be tested. The federal government estimates, according to the End the Backlog website, that hundreds of thousands of kits remain untested in police and crime lab storage facilities across the country.

An interactive map on the End the Backlog website shows Kansas has 2,008 untested kits, a number echoed in a Kansas City Star article in October. However, the number is an estimate of untested kits in Kansas in 2015, and according to the Star article, that could increase.

The interactive map also shows that counting is in progress, yet there is no statewide reform other than a comprehensive count.

It is unacceptable that rape kits sit untested in any U.S. jurisdiction. Rape kit testing should be a mandatory part of the legal process in these cases, as the kit serves to protect survivors and make sure that perpetrators of sexual assault and rape are punished for their crimes.

DNA evidence has come so far in the last decade and a half. Innocent people are exonerated because of DNA evidence. Crimes that have been unsolved for years are resolved thanks to DNA evidence.

The justice system has the power to help prevent one of the worst crimes a person can commit. All it takes is simple reform requiring responsible parties to test all rape kits for DNA evidence. Doing so will reduce the number of assaults and keep all of us safer.

It is promising that in Kansas, a new crime lab for the Kansas Bureau of Investigation opened in November. A Kansas City Business Journal article reported the facility will house more than 70 scientists and technicians and serves as the crime lab for the entire state.

Hopefully the new crime lab for the KBI is put to good use in preventing the epidemic of sexual assault. Only time will tell.