Sexual assault is one of the most horrific crimes a person — woman or man — can be a victim of.

It comes with a stigma unmatched by any other crime and the psychological impact rape and other sex crimes has on victims is tremendous. In fact, many people still never report sexual assault to the police.

And of those who do, some must go through invasive examinations and rape kits to collect evidence.

In Ohio, more than 9,000 of those rape kits went untested for DNA matches until Attorney General Mike DeWine launched an initiative to bring sexual criminals to justice.

As of February, more than 6,000 of those kits have been tested by state forensic scientists and have resulted in more than 2,300 hits to DNA already in the Combined DNA Index System (CODIS).

Many of the untested kits are decades old, but the victims still deserve justice. And that justice is coming for some.

In Cuyahoga County alone, more than 245 defendants have been indicted following testing conducted as part of the effort.

The sexual assault testing initiative is one step closer to giving victims justice and it shows that they have not been forgotten about.