For decades, law enforcement agencies have photographed and fingerprinted individuals at the time of booking, and that information has been used to solve crimes such as murder, armed carjacking, and rape. In most state and federal systems, this appointment process involves obtaining a DNA sample. Unfortunately, this provision was removed from the Secure DC bill during the DC Council’s first vote. We are asking Congress to reincorporate this provision into the final bill.
After collection and analysis, the DNA profile is loaded into a national database run by the FBI and compared to DNA profiles collected from crime scenes. Matches are often important clues in investigations. Since its creation in 1998, the Combined DNA Index System has helped investigate more than 545,000 serious crimes. The more DNA profiles in CODIS are known, the more serious violent crimes can be solved.
This is not a theoretical thing. My office has worked on several serious rape and murder cases that were solved by CODIS hits after the perpetrators involved were arrested in another jurisdiction and the suspect’s DNA profile was loaded into CODIS. Masu. Waiting years after an arrest for a conviction will have consequences. In one incident, an unidentified assailant raped a stranger at gunpoint. If D.C. law had allowed DNA collection earlier, this rape would have been solved by the time the perpetrator was subsequently arrested and charged with assault with a dangerous weapon. Unfortunately, that was not the case, and the perpetrator raped an 11-year-old boy who was on pretrial release for that crime before being identified and arrested for the first rape.
We recognize that there are privacy concerns regarding the collection of DNA. However, the DNA profile stored in CODIS consists of numbers representing 20 DNA positions and does not include a person’s name or personal identifier. Federal law also requires that the information in CODIS be used only by criminal justice agencies for law enforcement identification purposes and by criminal defendants in cases involving that person.
Substantial statistical evidence from other states demonstrates that collecting DNA at the time of arrest can help solve crimes. DC should take full advantage of CODIS’ crime-solving capabilities and allow DNA collection at the time of booking all felons. We know this important law enforcement tool helps solve violent crimes, prevent them, and bring closure to victims and their families.
Matthew Graves, Washington
The author is a U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia.