DNA Collection

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DNA Collection

Postby Sarutama » Thu May 04, 2006 2:21 pm

<br><br><br><br><br>New York State Draws Nearer to Collecting DNA in All Crimes<br><br>Article Tools Sponsored By<br>By DIANE CARDWELL<br>Published: May 4, 2006<br><br>A push to require all convicted criminals in New York to submit their DNA to a central database is gaining crucial support in Albany, where officials say it could create the most comprehensive DNA collection system in the nation.<br><br>If the proposal becomes law, it would make New York the only state to require collecting DNA from everyone convicted of felonies and misdemeanors, including youthful offenders convicted in criminal court, officials said.<br><br>Currently, 43 states require that people convicted of all felonies submit DNA, but none require samples from those convicted of all misdemeanors, and New York has required those convicted only of some felonies and some misdemeanors to do so , officials said.<br><br>Gov. George E. Pataki has pushed for an all-crimes DNA database for years and the Republican-led State Senate has approved such a bill, first introduced seven years ago. The legislation, however, has languished in the Democratic-led Assembly. But key lawmakers now say passage of a bill is quite likely if their concerns are addressed about DNA samples held by local crime labs that have been taken from people who have not been convicted.<br><br>"I think we're on our way this year to a DNA bill that will be the first in the nation to do all crimes," said Assemblyman Joseph R. Lentol, the chairman of the Codes Committee, which has jurisdiction over criminal justice.<br><br>The movement in Albany comes as public pressure to expand the state's database is mounting. Yesterday, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg gathered the city's five district attorneys outside a forensics lab the city is building on East 26th Street to push for the measure's passage.<br><br>"This is by far the most powerful and precise crime-solving tool since the advent of fingerprint identification a century ago," Mr. Bloomberg said. "When it comes to cutting-edge investigative technologies, New York should be leading the charge, not lagging behind. And as long as we are lagging behind, make no mistake: People are being murdered and raped by criminals who should already be behind bars."<br><br>Law enforcement officials say that DNA evidence has become increasingly crucial in solving and preventing crimes, from murders and sexual assaults to robberies and burglaries. According to the Mr. Pataki's office, New York's DNA database has linked suspects to more than 3,500 crimes since 2000. And in recent weeks, Police Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly said, DNA evidence has proved crucial in investigating the case of Imette St. Guillen, a graduate student who was raped and murdered, and identifying a man who committed a series of rapes dating to 1995.<br><br>"Most sex offenders and murderers are not specialists — they get convicted of every crime in the book, including more minor offenses like petty larceny and trespassing," Mr. Bloomberg said, "and each time that happens it is an opportunity to stop career criminals in their tracks and prevent another rape or save another life."<br><br>If it adopts the law, New York would in some ways be catching up to the rest of the country, where most states already require DNA collection from felons.<br><br>But extending that requirement to everyone convicted of misdemeanors would appear to make New York stand out. Five states allow samples to be taken from some people who are arrested, and in several states certain misdemeanor offenses also require DNA sampling, said Donna Lyons, criminal justice program director for the National Conference of State Legislatures, a nonpartisan research group.<br><br>According to John Feinblatt, the city's criminal justice coordinator, Louisiana has a more comprehensive law on its books, which would collect DNA from all people who are arrested. But, he said, the state has not been able to put the law into effect because of a lack of financing.<br><br>Currently New York collects DNA from fewer than half its convicted felons and from about 6 percent of those convicted of misdemeanors and compares them to DNA profiles linked to unsolved crimes. Each time the databank has expanded to include more types of convictions, officials said, the number of matches has increased. In 1999, when the law added convictions for certain violent felonies to its list of sex crimes and homicide, 80 percent of the next 1,000 matches directly resulted from that expansion.<br><br>Chauncey Parker, the state director of criminal justice, said, "The more you expand, the more crimes you're going to solve."<br><br>On average, he added, five years pass from an offender's first conviction until a type of conviction that allows the state to take DNA, and the court records are full of criminals who were not linked to rapes and murders for years after committing them.<br><br>But critics worry that a new deluge of genetic material will overtax labs and yield insufficient crime-fighting improvements.<br><br>Expanding the law to include those convicted of misdemeanors, said Stephen Saloom, policy director at the Innocence Project, which supports DNA sampling of convicted felons, "is an inefficient use of resources, increases the risk of wrongful prosecution and conviction of innocent people whose DNA might end up at a crime scene and further strains a forensics community that is already complaining of the lack of qualified and trained analysts to work in their labs."<br><br>In addition, civil libertarians and other advocates say that the potential for abuse has been growing, especially given the proliferation of DNA databases maintained by local crime labs that include genetic profiles from people who have not been convicted of crimes.<br><br>"There are numbers of occasions where innocent people's DNA has been collected to eliminate them as suspects," Mr. Lentol said, adding that the Assembly wanted to see that issue addressed as part of expanding the state database. "It's our wish that hasn't been listened to yet that those samples be destroyed."<br><br><!--EZCODE LINK START--><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2006/05/04/nyregion/04dna.html?ex=1304395200&en=6f97fdcf98bf1a6a&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss">www.nytimes.com/2006/05/04/nyregion/04dna.html?ex=1304395200&en=6f97fdcf98bf1a6a&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss</a><!--EZCODE LINK END--> <p></p><i></i>
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