Wisconsin Crime Lab Receives Fewer Totals Cases in 2024

Tuesday, December 9th, 2025 -- 11:00 AM

(Joe Schulz, Wisconsin Public Radio) Wisconsin’s state crime labs received fewer total cases in 2024 than in 2023, but took longer on average to turn around DNA casework and toxicology, according to a new report from the state Department of Justice. 

According to Joe Schulz with the Wisconsin Public Radio, the report was released Thursday and provides an insight into drug use trends and changes in turnaround times for processing evidence.

The state DOJ’s Division of Forensic Sciences received 8,965 total cases last year, down from 9,388 the previous year. According to the report, sexual assault cases can require assignments in both the DNA casework and toxicology units.

Sexual assaults made up nearly 24 percent of all DNA cases, the report said. DNA casework took an average of 129 days last year, up from 108 the prior year.

While the number of cases declined, the number of individual items processed by the DNA casework unit increased from 38,377 to 39,992 during the same timespan. Meanwhile, sexual assaults accounted for 7.5 percent of all toxicology cases, the report says.

The average turnaround time for toxicology was 82 days in 2024, up from 64 days in 2023. The number of items processed by the toxicology unit decreased from 5,618 to 5,125 from 2023 to 2024.

State Attorney General Josh Kaul said turnaround times are a result of the number of cases the crime labs receive, the complexity of those cases and the resources available to forensic scientists.

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