Two experts at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) are calling into question a method of presenting evidence in courtrooms, arguing that it risks allowing personal preference to creep into expert testimony and potentially distorts evidence for a jury.
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Posted in DNA Legislation, Forensic Industry News
The parents of slain jogger Karina Vetrano received further solace on Friday after the New York State Commission on Forensic Science announced that the familial-DNA genetic search tool can now be utilized in the state.
Phil and Cathy Vetrano had been advocates of the policy for months; they held a press conference on February 3 during which they endorsed the tool, which searches law-enforcement DNA databases for relatives of a genetic profile that forensics build at the scene of a crime.
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Posted in DNA Legislation, Familial
NOTHING IS a more powerful symbol of the failure of the criminal justice system to take sexual assault seriously than the tens of thousands of rape kits that languish — untested — in police departments and crime labs across the country. So when authorities undertake to eliminate the existing backlog and prevent future ones, it is a sign of a new approach that prioritizes getting justice for victims and holding offenders accountable. That is what is happening in Virginia, and it should be applauded.
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Posted in Backlogs, DNA Legislation
HARRISBURG, Pa. (WHTM) – A Pennsylvania lawmaker has introduced legislation to expand the state’s DNA database.
State Rep. Ron Marsico (R-Dauphin) said his proposal would permit the taking of DNA samples from people convicted of serious misdemeanors.
The current database, with few exceptions, includes only those convicted of felonies. Marsico said that allows people who committed serious unsolved crime to “fly below the radar.”
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Posted in DNA Legislation
(INDIANAPOLIS) – Indiana prosecutors participated today in the signing by Governor Eric Holcomb of two bills that are considered essential to law enforcement’s ability to build criminal cases for conviction of wrongdoers.
SEA 322 requires every person arrested for a felony to submit a DNA sample. DNA collection is a powerful criminal justice tool that can exonerate the innocent and provide identification of the guilty. A long list of sponsors supported the bill, including Sen. Erin Houchin, Rep. Wendy McNamara, Rep. Patrick Bauer, Sen. Randy Head, Rep. Donna Schaibley and Sen. Jack Sandlin.
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Posted in DNA Legislation
Gov. Eric Holcomb signed into law Friday a bill that allows the collection of DNA from those arrested on felony charges.
Senate Enrolled Act 322 requires anyone arrested for a felony after Dec. 31, 2017, to submit a DNA sample via cheek swab. It further stipulates that the sample may not be shipped for identification unless the person was arrested on a warrant or probable cause has been found for a felony arrest.
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Posted in Database, DNA Legislation
Behind closed doors this week, the German federal justice ministry has been discussing whether to hand police a powerful new tool involving the analysis of DNA samples. The debate is a direct consequence of the rape and murder of a medical student in Freiburg last October.
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Posted in DNA Legislation
March 3, 2017 – Convicted of murder in the early 1980s, Jeffrey Denny filed a postconviction motion in 2014, claiming he was entitled to forensic DNA testing of evidence from the crime scene. Recently, the state supreme court said he was not.
In State v. Denny, 2017 WI 17 (Feb. 28, 2017), a 4-3 majority ruled that Denny did not meet the statutory requirements for postconviction DNA testing at public expense. And a 5-2 majority overruled a 2005 decision that allowed DNA testing at private expense when a person does not satisfy requirements for publicly funded DNA testing.
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Posted in DNA Legislation
(WHAS11) — Indiana appears headed to pass a DNA bill that would require samples from felony suspects. Supporters suggest it could prevent crime and catch killers and rapists.
Senate Bill 322 and House Bill 1577 are similar to a plan that has failed in Kentucky.
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Posted in DNA Legislation
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Senators Orrin Hatch (R-UT) and Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) and Representatives Jim Sensenbrenner (R-WI) and Eric Swalwell (D-CA) introduced the bipartisan, bicameral Rapid DNA Act. This legislation would establish a system to enable law enforcement officials to use Rapid DNA instruments to help reduce DNA backlogs. Unlike traditional DNA analysis, which can take weeks, Rapid DNA analysis permits processing of DNA samples in approximately 90 minutes or less.
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Posted in DNA Legislation
olice must submit rape kits containing DNA evidence to laboratories within 10 days of collecting it under legislation heading to Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s desk. The bill also requires labs to process evidence within 90 days and calls for clearing any backlog of the evidence kits, which can be used to…
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Posted in DNA Legislation
The Senate approved bipartisan legislation sponsored by U.S. Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT) on Friday to modernize the nation’s DNA laws and enable local police to upload samples to an FBI database.
The Rapid DNA Act, S. 2348, was designed to enable local police to quickly determine whether a suspect is connected to a crime using the FBI’s Combined DNA Index System (CODIS) database.
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Posted in Database, DNA Legislation
SALT LAKE CITY (ABC4 Utah) – A shot in the arm for crime investigations across the state. Senator Orrin Hatch has co-proposed legislation allowing police officers to take DNA samples themselves to see if they have a criminal in their custody.
It’s called the Rapid DNA Act. The idea is if police have a suspect charged with a felony they can take his or her DNA with a simple mouth swab and put the sample straight into the FBI’s database. Local law enforcement say this could cut months out of their investigation time and possibly solve crimes they couldn’t have otherwise.
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Posted in DNA Legislation
A new immigration bill under consideration by the House Judiciary Committee would impose unprecedented restrictions on U.S. citizens seeking to sponsor the immigration of their family members, requiring that all parties submit to mandatory DNA testing as part of their visa applications.
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Posted in DNA Legislation
MANHATTAN (CN) — Although DNA testing gave less than one-in-a-trillion odds that police collared the wrong gun suspect, it was “science fiction” for prosecutors to try to admit this evidence without testimony from the analyst who conducted it, New York’s Court of Appeals ruled Thursday.
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Posted in DNA Legislation
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