DNA "shelved" can solve more than 1,200 rapes in the US

Almost 5000 examinations of sexual abuse were standing in the American state of Ohio to last year. Were rape investigations that were getting cold, to fully freeze from 1993 to 2010.

State law changed in 2011, and all the "rape kits" unprocessed had to be examined - at once.

It was there that justice has partnered with science: a task force of researchers began testing the genetic material shelved at full speed.

The result was 526 people indicted, 211 convicts and the estimate that 1,290 cases are resolved only on the basis of DNA evidence found by the initiative.

More than solving cases, however, scientists are gaining access (possibly for the first time on such a large scale) to a huge source of data on rape, which can definitely change the way we understand - and fight - this crime.

[Warning: Content below can be sensitive for some people.]

The studies showed significant differences between the two major rapists profiles. About half (49% in the study) can be classified as "abuser once".

But the majority (51%) is relapsed or rapist in series. And the two groups act in markedly different ways.

In serial crimes, the kidnapping victim is more common, as well as threats with weapons. But criminals "at once" tend to be directly more aggressive with punches, slaps and use of physical force to hold the victim.

In most crimes "only", the motivation came from a group attack - the criminal feels encouraged to make friends what not around to do alone. Already the serial offenders were more likely to attack strangers.

Abusers series also tend to be very specific with the crime scene - 58% of them commit all their crimes in a single type of place - and usually attack victims outdoors or in cars. But the other group tends to commit the crime in their own home or the home of the victim.

The background of these two types of criminals also varied. 74% of serial offenders had been arrested at least once before the sexual abuse - sometimes his police record started years before the attack. 95% of them returned to be arrested later. Among the abusers of one crime, 51% of them committed offenses before and 76% was arrested later.

Each of these details can have a great importance in the investigation of cases of sexual violence, especially to trace the criminal profile.

More than that, the data show the importance of preventing rape exams are abandoned and accumulated in police stations. If most abusers may again commit a crime in the future, identifying it as soon as possible is the most direct way to prevent other rapes.

The reason for these analyzes are not done every time is economic - they are expensive, cost $ 950 per exam in the United States.

The analysis of 5000 kits was only possible because the government has committed to pay for each. But the conclusion of the task force is that all this cost is still an economy.

Rape not only hurt physically and emotionally the victim - but generates financial costs, which is the loss of productivity, quality of life and medical expenses.

Their idea therefore is that the appeal for protection of victims does not reach the empathy of everyone, perhaps the economy make the role convincing: only the initiative of Ohio can lead to a saving of $ 48.2 million in future rapes avoided.