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A proposal requiring DNA sampling of all convicted criminals in New York is gaining support in Albany, which officials say could produce the most inclusive DNA database collection system in the United States.
If the proposal is passed, New York would be the only state that would require everyone convicted of felonies and misdemeanors, including juvenile offenders, to submit DNA samples.
While 43 states currently require DNA collection from felons, none ask for samples from misdemeanor criminals. “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, chairman of the Codes Committee, which has jurisdiction over criminal justice.
According to law enforcement officials, DNA evidence has become important to solving crimes and preventing future offenses from sexual assaults and murder to burglaries.
“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,” said New York Mayor, Michael R. Bloomberg. “And each time that happens it is an opportunity to stop career criminals in their tracks and prevent another rape or save another life.”
Currently, under New York law, the state collects DNA samples of fewer than half of all convicted felons and about six percent of misdemeanor criminals, which they compare to DNA profiles connected to unsolved crimes.
According to officials, every time the DNA database includes more types of convictions, the number of DNA profile matches has increased. “The more you expand, the more crimes you’re going to solve,” said Chauncey Parker, the state director of criminal justice.
However, opponents of the bill are concerned the new flood of genetic samples will overtax laboratories and stray towards inadequate crime-fighting techniques.
Stephen Saloom, policy director at the Innocence Project, a group that supports DNA collections of convicted felons believes that modifying the law to include misdemeanor criminals “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.”
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