Feds committed $350M to tackle rape kit backlog. Graphics show most cases are unresolved. by USA Today

Over the past decade, the U.S. government has awarded nearly $350 million in grants to help local and state agencies across the country test long-neglected evidence from sexual assaults and bring closure to victims. Leaders promised that the program, known as the Sexual Assault Kit Initiative, would make communities safer by locking up rapists and provide answers to victims who have spent years or decades in the dark.

In most cases, neither has happened.

In 2015, USA TODAY Network reporters discovered tens of thousands of untested rape kits stored at police departments across the nation. Later that year, the U.S. Department of Justice announced millions in grants to test backlogged kits, bring resolution to victims and put their attackers in prison.

Nearly a decade later, USA TODAY returned to the subject matter to learn whether things had changed. For more than a year, a new investigation examined whether the 90 local and state agencies that have since received funding are achieving those goals, and a new creative process explored the best way to communicate the findings to our readers.

This visual story is the result of this year-long investigation, and a lengthy creative and production process which included extensive research and collaboration. Team members spent months delving into evidence photos, interviews with those who were sexually assaulted, data, and analysis.

There are a number of other stories in the series, all which also contain illustrations and data visualizations created by the same team. They can be accessed by clicking the link at the bottom of the story. This story in intended to be the primary entry point into the project and to communicate the investigation's main findings.