The testing of DNA evidence has proved its effectiveness as a crime-solving tool. In ways that were heretofore unimaginable, DNA tests leave little doubt in identifying the guilty and setting the innocent free.
Sadly, justice is delayed in thousands of cases that wait for a staggering nationwide backlog of evidence testing to be resolved.
More than 350,000 samples from murder, rape and other serious cases sit on shelves in police evidence lockers across the country, waiting to be entered into a database that police use to identify criminals. Too many states lack the money to pay for the talent and equipment needed to conduct the tests. Meanwhile, families of victims and the accused wait, sometimes for years, to find out whether police have snared the guilty.
Help could be on the way in a long-stalled, bipartisan bill that the Senate Judiciary Committee finally approved Tuesday after long debate. The bill would spend $1.3 billion over five years to expand the use of DNA testing, particularly in death-penalty cases.
The House approved a similar measure last year.
For the bill to become law, it must pass the Senate and then have differences with the House version resolved in conference committee before a final measure is sent to the president. That’s a big order, but it can be done before the end of the year, and it should.
Opponents argue that making DNA tests more available will encourage unnecessary criminal appeals and undermine the ability of states to enforce the death penalty. On the contrary, ample experience shows DNA testing enhances law enforcement by helping police and prosecutors find and put away the right suspects.
Illinois knows the value of DNA tests. In July Wayne Willis, a Chicago man who allegedly left behind DNA evidence in at least four sexual assaults during a four-year spree, was charged after a private group, the Women’s DNA Initiative, came up with the money to have the evidence tested. This week, DuPage County issued five indictments of perpetrators who are identified solely by lengthy DNA numbers, as a means of keeping investigations open past the statute of limitations for the crimes.
The Illinois database has yielded DNA matches in more than 1,000 cases, along with 109 matches elsewhere in the nation. Yet more than 1,000 samples of genetic material sit in the state crime lab waiting to be analyzed, along with thousands of blood samples from convicted felons in Illinois prisons.
Critics need to ask themselves: Can the nation afford to delay identifying people who have committed violent crimes? The answer should be obvious. Congress should move as quickly as possible to help law enforcement officers and the courts use this valuable tool.
