MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Tennessee State Senator Brent Taylor announced on Thursday that major progress has been made regarding the amount of time it takes to process rape kits in the State of Tennessee. According to data from the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, the average turnaround time on processing a sexual assault kit at the crime lab in Jackson, Tenn., where Shelby County cases are analyzed, dropped from 43.8 weeks at the end of 2022, to 15.4 weeks by the end of March 2024. “When I ran to be Shelby County’s next state Senator, I promised I would work with state agencies and local partners to speed up sexual assault kit processing time,” said Senator Taylor. Taylor says that 48 of 50 new crime lab scientists approved by the legislature have been hired, and the increase in personnel has drastically reduced the time it takes to process sexual assault kits. Tennessee’s long rape kit processing times cut in half after Eliza Fletcher’s death exposed delays "This means that victims have faster resolution and sexual assaulters are held accountable," Taylor added. The large drop in processing times comes after the death of Eliza Fletcher in 2022, which highlighted the long delays. Just days after Cleotha Abston was charged in the killing of Fletcher, he was also charged in the 2021 rape of a different woman. Memphis Police say the sexual assault report was taken on Sept. 21, 2021, but was not analyzed until nearly a year later. He was convicted of the kidnap and rape of Alicia Franklin in April 2024. Alicia Franklin (left) and Cleotha Abston-Henderson (SCSO) TBI ‘making progress’ on rape kit testing The TBI previously said that the delays were due to a lack in staffing and low pay. They also said that Memphis Police did not request for expedited analysis of the kit, which can cut down the wait to only days. Senator Taylor stated in a July 2023 interview with WREG's sister station in Nashville that if turnaround times had been quicker, Abston would not have been on the streets and Fletcher would still be alive. Eliza Fletcher In 2022, soon after Fletcher's killing, Lawmakers fast-tracked funding for additional lab positions and used a $1.85 million federal grant to contract with a Florida lab to test over 850 rape kits, according to a report from the Associated Press. The decline in processing times has continued to decrease since the changes were implemented. Lawmakers say they hope the wait times continue to fall.