ADVANCING JUSTICE THROUGH DNA TECHNOLOGY: USING DNA TO SOLVE CRIMES. TOC Executive Summary. In the 2001 “Green River” killings, DNA evidence provided a major breakthrough in a series of crimes that had remained unsolved for years despite a large law enforcement task force and a $15 million investigation. Extraction, quantitation.
USING DNA TO SOLVE CRIMESThe past decade has seen great advances in a powerful criminal justice tool: deoxyribonucleic acid, or DNA. DNA can be used to identify criminals with incredible accuracy when biological evidence exists. By the same token, DNA can be used to clear suspects and exonerate persons mistakenly accused or convicted of crimes. In all, DNA technology is increasingly vital to ensuring accuracy and fairness in the criminal justice system.News stories extolling the successful use of DNA to solve crimes abound. For example, in 1999, New York authorities linked a man through DNA evidence to at least 22 sexual assaults and robberies that had terrorized the city.
In 2002, authorities in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and Fort Collins, Colorado, used DNA evidence to link and solve a series of crimes (rapes and a murder) perpetrated by the same individual. In the 2001 “Green River” killings, DNA evidence provided a major breakthrough in a series of crimes that had remained unsolved for years despite a large law enforcement task force and a $15 million investigation.DNA is generally used to solve crimes in one of two ways. In cases where a suspect is identified, a sample of that person’s DNA can be compared to evidence from the crime scene.
The results of this comparison may help establish whether the suspect committed the crime. In cases where a suspect has not yet been identified, biological evidence from the crime scene can be analyzed and compared to offender profiles in DNA databases to help identify the perpetrator.
Crime scene evidence can also be linked to other crime scenes through the use of DNA databases.For example, assume that a man was convicted of sexual assault. At the time of his conviction, he was required to provide a sample of his DNA, and the resulting DNA profile was entered into a DNA database. Several years later, another sexual assault was committed. A Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner worked with the victim and was able to obtain biological evidence from the rape.
This evidence was analyzed, the resulting profile was run against a DNA database, and a match was made to the man’s DNA profile. He was apprehended, tried, and sentenced for his second crime.
In this hypothetical case, he was also prevented from committing other crimes during the period of his incarceration.DNA evidence is generally linked to DNA offender profiles through DNA databases. In the late 1980s, the federal government laid the groundwork for a system of national, state, and local DNA databases for the storage and exchange of DNA profiles. This system, called the Combined DNA Index System (CODIS), maintains DNA profiles obtained under the federal, state, and local systems in a set of databases that are available to law enforcement agencies across the country for law enforcement purposes. CODIS can compare crime scene evidence to a database of DNA profiles obtained from convicted offenders. CODIS can also link DNA evidence obtained from different crime scenes, thereby identifying serial criminals.In order to take advantage of the investigative potential of CODIS, in the late 1980s and early 1990s, states began passing laws requiring offenders convicted of certain offenses to provide DNA samples. Currently all 50 states and the federal government have laws requiring that DNA samples be collected from some categories of offenders.When used to its full potential, DNA evidence will help solve and may even prevent some of the Nation’s most serious violent crimes.
However, the current federal and state DNA collection and analysis system needs improvement: (1)In many instances, public crime labs are overwhelmed by backlogs of unanalyzed DNA samples.(2)In addition, these labs may be ill-equipped to handle the increasing influx of DNA samples and evidence. The problems of backlogs and lack of up-to-date technology result in significant delays in the administration of justice.(3)More research is needed to develop faster methods for analyzing DNA evidence.(4)Professionals working in the criminal justice system need additional training and assistance in order to ensure the optimal use of DNA evidence to solve crimes and assist victims.President Bush believes we must do more to realize the full potential of DNA technology to solve crime and protect the innocent. Under the President’s initiative, the Attorney General will improve the use of DNA in the criminal justice system by providing funds and assistance to ensure that this technology reaches its full potential to solve crimes.One of the biggest problems facing the criminal justice system today is the substantial backlog of unanalyzed DNA samples and biological evidence from crime scenes, especially in sexual assault and murder cases. Too often, crime scene samples wait unanalyzed in police or crime lab storage facilities. Timely analysis of these samples and placement into DNA databases can avert tragic results. For example, in 1995, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement linked evidence found on a rape-homicide victim to a convicted rapist’s DNA profile just eight days before he was scheduled for parole.
Had he been released prior to being linked to the unsolved rape-homicide, he may very well have raped or murdered again.By contrast, analysis and placement into CODIS of DNA profiles can dramatically enhance the chances that potential crime victims will be spared the violence of vicious, repeat offenders. The President’s initiative calls for $92.9 million to help alleviate the current backlogs of DNA samples for the most serious violent offenses – rapes, murders, and kidnappings – and for convicted offender samples needing testing.
With this additional federal backlog reduction funding, the funding provided by this initiative to improve crime laboratory capacity, and continued support from the states, the current backlogs will be eliminated in five years.Understanding the BacklogThe state and local backlog problem has two components: (1) “ casework sample backlogs,” which consist of DNA samples obtained from crime scenes, victims, and suspects in criminal cases, and (2) “ convicted offender backlogs,” which consist of DNA samples obtained from convicted offenders who are incarcerated or under supervision. The nature of the DNA backlog is complex and changing, and measuring the precise number of unanalyzed DNA samples is difficult. Casework Sample Backlogs: In a 2001 survey of public DNA laboratories, the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) found that between 1997 and 2000, DNA laboratories experienced a 73% increase in casework and a 135% increase in their casework backlogs. Many casework samples go unanalyzed for lack of a suspect to which to compare the biological evidence from the crime scene. These are often referred to as “no-suspect” cases.
Based on an ongoing assessment of crime laboratories and law enforcement agencies, the National Institute of Justice (NIJ) estimates that the current backlog of rape and homicide cases is approximately 350,000. The initiative calls for $76 million in FY 2004 to help eliminate these backlogs over five years. Convicted Offender Backlogs: States are increasing the number of convicted offenders required to provide DNA samples. Currently, 23 states require all convicted felons to provide DNA samples. Preliminary estimates by NIJ place the number of collected, untested convicted offender samples at between 200,000 and 300,000.
NIJ also estimates that there are between 500,000 and 1,000,000 convicted offender samples that are owed, but not yet collected. The initiative calls for $15 million in FY 2004 to help eliminate convicted offender backlogs over five years.The federal government also faces a high demand for analysis of casework and convicted offender DNA samples. The FBI has two DNA casework analysis units (see page 5). The first unit, which focuses on analyzing nuclear DNA, has a backlog of approximately 900 cases. The second unit, which focuses on analyzing mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA), has a backlog of roughly 120 cases.The federal government also collects DNA samples from persons convicted of offenses in certain categories, including crimes of violence or terrorism. The FBI currently has a backlog of approximately 18,000 convicted offender samples.
The initiative calls for $1.9 million in FY 2004 to fund the federal convicted offender program; some of these funds will be devoted to eliminating the federal convicted offender backlog.Effect of Clearing the BacklogThe results of addressing backlogs are dramatic, as the two examples below illustrate:. In September 1993, a married couple was attacked on a jogging trail in Dallas by a man with a gun who sexually assaulted the woman after shooting the man. No suspect was ever positively identified, although police investigated over 200 leads and 40 potential suspects. In August 2000, evidence from the case was analyzed using current DNA technology. Then, in February 2001, the DNA sample was matched to an individual who was already serving a five-year sentence for an unrelated 1997 sexual assault of a child.
The man has since been convicted of capital murder and aggravated sexual assault. In March 1992, an Alexandria, Virginia shop owner was stabbed more than 150 times in her home. There were no witnesses to the crime. For years, detectives had no leads, but they did have traces of someone’s blood, apparently from the fierce struggle between the victim and the killer.
Meanwhile, in 1996, a man pleaded guilty to robbing a gas station, and his DNA was collected for analysis and inclusion in the Virginia DNA database. Because of the backlog, the man’s sample was not immediately analyzed. In the summer of 2000, the sample was analyzed and matched through the database to the evidence from the Alexandria woman’s murder. In April 2001, almost nine years after the commission of this brutal crime, the man was sentenced to life in prison.Several law enforcement agencies, prosecutors’ offices, and crime labs across the country have established innovative programs to review old cases. Often called “cold case units,” these programs have enabled criminal justice officials to solve cases that have languished for years without suspects. Most frequently, DNA evidence has been the linchpin in solving these cases. For instance, this past July, a California man was found guilty of the 1974 rape-homicide of a 19 year-old pregnant woman – a case that was solved through DNA evidence nearly thirty years after the crime was committed.Prior Federal Support of State DNA Backlog ReductionIn recent years, the federal government has strongly supported states in their efforts to eliminate backlogs of convicted offender and casework DNA samples.
Since the creation in 2000 of the Department of Justice’s (DOJ’s) Convicted Offender DNA Backlog Reduction Program, more than 493,600 offender samples from 24 states have been analyzed. Since the creation in 2001 of the No Suspect Casework DNA Backlog Reduction Program, federal funds have been provided to support the analysis of approximately 24,800 cases. States have analyzed evidence in an additional 18,000 'no-suspect' cases as a result of a match requirement of Convicted Offender DNA Backlog Reduction funding.In 2002 and 2003 combined, the President requested and Congress appropriated $70.8 million to fund these DNA backlog reduction programs. Additionally, Attorney General John Ashcroft also made available $25 million in Asset Forfeiture funds to address the backlog of convicted offender and 'no suspect' casework samples. Thus, the Bush Administration already has devoted more than $95 million to reducing DNA backlogs.At present, many of our Nation’s crime laboratories do not have the capacity necessary to analyze DNA samples in a timely fashion. Many have limited equipment resources, outdated information systems, and overwhelming case management demands.
As a result, the criminal justice system as a whole is unable to reap the full benefits of DNA technology. The President’s initiative will provide federal funding to further automate and improve the infrastructure of federal, state, and local crime labs so they can process DNA samples efficiently and cost-effectively. These infrastructure improvements are critical to preventing future DNA backlogs, and to helping the criminal justice system realize the full potential of DNA technology.Increasing the Analysis Capacity of Public Crime LabsThe President’s initiative will provide significant support to public crime labs so that these labs can update their infrastructure, automate their DNA analysis procedures, and improve their retention and storage of forensic evidence.