Enlarge Mike Groll/AP
A forensic scientist processes DNA samples at the New York State Police lab in Albany.
A forensic scientist processes DNA samples at the New York State Police lab in Albany.
Early on Thursday, lawmakers in New York approved a bill that will make the state the first to require DNA samples from almost all convicted criminals and make its DNA database one of the largest in the nation.
Most states, including New York, already collect DNA samples from felons, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. What's remarkable about the New York bill is that it would expand the state's database to include DNA from people convicted of almost any crime, even misdemeanors as minor as jumping over a subway turnstile.
Donna Lieberman, director of the New York Civil Liberties Union, is concerned the strain of all that additional DNA will overwhelm the state crime labs that handle it.
"Instead of helping us solve crimes, this may result in the conviction of innocent New Yorkers," she says. "What we've seen in other jurisdictions is that when you engage in the massive expansion of the database like that, there are shortcuts that are taken and there's negligence, there's fraud, there's contamination. And it's really an enormous hurdle for defendants."
The bill's authors did exempt minor marijuana convictions from the DNA reporting requirement. But its backers, including Richard Aborn at the Citizens Crime Commission of New York City, say there's a good argument for including even the most minor offenses in the database.
"We know from lots of studies and lots of data now that violent criminals very often begin their careers as nonviolent criminals," Aborn says. "And the earlier you can get a nonviolent criminal's DNA in the data bank, the higher your chances are of apprehending the right person."
That may be why the bill has enjoyed the support of district attorneys all across the state. Aborn says the bill's authors did a good job of making sure that defense lawyers will have access to the database, too. And he points out that DNA can be used to prove innocence, as well as guilt.
Read more from the original source:
N.Y. Passes DNA Requirement For Convicted Criminals
- Molecular Visualizations of DNA [Last Updated On: August 27th, 2011] [Originally Added On: August 27th, 2011]
- DNA Structure [Last Updated On: August 27th, 2011] [Originally Added On: August 27th, 2011]
- Time Is Money Presents: Dna vs. T-rex [Last Updated On: August 27th, 2011] [Originally Added On: August 27th, 2011]
- DNA Replication Process [Last Updated On: August 27th, 2011] [Originally Added On: August 27th, 2011]
- darwin deez - dna (official video) [Last Updated On: August 27th, 2011] [Originally Added On: August 27th, 2011]
- The Secret of Life -- Discovery of DNA Structure [Last Updated On: August 27th, 2011] [Originally Added On: August 27th, 2011]
- DNA - Blonde Red Head (from Downtown 81) [Last Updated On: August 27th, 2011] [Originally Added On: August 27th, 2011]
- How Big is Your Genome? Strange DNA [Last Updated On: August 27th, 2011] [Originally Added On: August 27th, 2011]
- DNA live [Last Updated On: August 27th, 2011] [Originally Added On: August 27th, 2011]
- Amanda Knox's father says DNA evidence 'critical' [Last Updated On: September 11th, 2011] [Originally Added On: September 11th, 2011]
- Judge: No more DNA testing in Amanda Knox appeal [Last Updated On: September 11th, 2011] [Originally Added On: September 11th, 2011]
- NASA | DNA Building Blocks Can Be Made in Space [Last Updated On: September 11th, 2011] [Originally Added On: September 11th, 2011]
- Starchild Skull- The SHOCKING DNA Results Are In....WATCH THIS! *HD* [Last Updated On: September 11th, 2011] [Originally Added On: September 11th, 2011]
- Svante Pääbo: DNA clues to our inner neanderthal [Last Updated On: September 11th, 2011] [Originally Added On: September 11th, 2011]
- CIA may have tried 'to trick DNA from Bin Laden' [Last Updated On: September 11th, 2011] [Originally Added On: September 11th, 2011]
- SMACK/ URL Presents DNA vs X-Factor [Last Updated On: September 11th, 2011] [Originally Added On: September 11th, 2011]
- Court denies re-test of DNA in Amanda Knox trial [Last Updated On: September 11th, 2011] [Originally Added On: September 11th, 2011]
- Chapter 10: Tenacious DNA [Last Updated On: September 23rd, 2011] [Originally Added On: September 23rd, 2011]
- dna [Last Updated On: September 23rd, 2011] [Originally Added On: September 23rd, 2011]
- Saul Williams - DNA [Last Updated On: September 23rd, 2011] [Originally Added On: September 23rd, 2011]
- DNA--Not Moving [Last Updated On: September 23rd, 2011] [Originally Added On: September 23rd, 2011]
- DNA Extraction Home Experiment [Last Updated On: September 23rd, 2011] [Originally Added On: September 23rd, 2011]
- How to extract DNA from strawberries [Last Updated On: September 23rd, 2011] [Originally Added On: September 23rd, 2011]
- frequency 528 Hz (DNA repair frequency ?) : NO MUSIC single tone [Last Updated On: September 23rd, 2011] [Originally Added On: September 23rd, 2011]
- darwin deez - dna [director's cut] [Last Updated On: September 23rd, 2011] [Originally Added On: September 23rd, 2011]
- DNA Replication Song [Last Updated On: September 23rd, 2011] [Originally Added On: September 23rd, 2011]
- BioRap (DNA Replication and Protein Synthesis with a Beat) [Last Updated On: September 23rd, 2011] [Originally Added On: September 23rd, 2011]
- DNA Transcription and Protein Assembly [Last Updated On: September 23rd, 2011] [Originally Added On: September 23rd, 2011]
- 888 Gateway DNA Meditation [Last Updated On: September 23rd, 2011] [Originally Added On: September 23rd, 2011]
- From DNA to Protein [Last Updated On: September 23rd, 2011] [Originally Added On: September 23rd, 2011]
- Blame it on the DNA [Last Updated On: September 24th, 2011] [Originally Added On: September 24th, 2011]
- DNA Replication [Last Updated On: September 24th, 2011] [Originally Added On: September 24th, 2011]
- Recombinant DNA ©2004 Demonstratives, Inc. [Last Updated On: September 24th, 2011] [Originally Added On: September 24th, 2011]
- A Flock of Seagulls - DNA [Last Updated On: September 24th, 2011] [Originally Added On: September 24th, 2011]
- DNA - Detached (from Downtown 81) [Last Updated On: September 24th, 2011] [Originally Added On: September 24th, 2011]
- Aliens, UFOs, DNA [Last Updated On: September 25th, 2011] [Originally Added On: September 25th, 2011]
- DNA Speaks On Recent Battles And X-Factor [Last Updated On: September 25th, 2011] [Originally Added On: September 25th, 2011]
- The DNA of the World's Most Innovative Companies [Last Updated On: September 25th, 2011] [Originally Added On: September 25th, 2011]
- Anunnaki Human DNA 1 [Last Updated On: September 25th, 2011] [Originally Added On: September 25th, 2011]
- Host DNA Dicing - Green Phat Bet - 11bill+ Total - [Last Updated On: September 25th, 2011] [Originally Added On: September 25th, 2011]
- Judge Alex - DNA Test [Last Updated On: September 25th, 2011] [Originally Added On: September 25th, 2011]
- Prosecution downplays DNA in Knox appeal [Last Updated On: September 26th, 2011] [Originally Added On: September 26th, 2011]
- NASA officially announces alien DNA found in meteorites. [Last Updated On: September 26th, 2011] [Originally Added On: September 26th, 2011]
- Antimatter Found, Artificial DNA ,Social Unrest [Last Updated On: September 26th, 2011] [Originally Added On: September 26th, 2011]
- Chrono Khalid - DNA activation 2.0 [Last Updated On: September 26th, 2011] [Originally Added On: September 26th, 2011]
- 'Baby' Alien found by farmer in Mexico - DNA tests and scans baffles scientists [Last Updated On: September 26th, 2011] [Originally Added On: September 26th, 2011]
- DNA : The Secret Of Life (PBS) [Last Updated On: September 26th, 2011] [Originally Added On: September 26th, 2011]
- DNA - Size [Last Updated On: September 27th, 2011] [Originally Added On: September 27th, 2011]
- Starchild Skull 2010 DNA Result [Last Updated On: September 28th, 2011] [Originally Added On: September 28th, 2011]
- Cowboy BeBop- Ask DNA [Last Updated On: September 28th, 2011] [Originally Added On: September 28th, 2011]
- Symphony of Science -- DNA and Life [Last Updated On: September 30th, 2011] [Originally Added On: September 30th, 2011]
- Molecular Biology Visualization of DNA [Last Updated On: October 2nd, 2011] [Originally Added On: October 2nd, 2011]
- Same Dna Livin Life Ep 8 [Last Updated On: October 4th, 2011] [Originally Added On: October 4th, 2011]
- Danny Brown - DNA [Last Updated On: October 4th, 2011] [Originally Added On: October 4th, 2011]
- Rockmond Dunbar Traces His DNA To Nigeria [Last Updated On: October 5th, 2011] [Originally Added On: October 5th, 2011]
- TEDxFortGreeneSalon - Melvin Gibbs - The DNA Project [Last Updated On: October 5th, 2011] [Originally Added On: October 5th, 2011]
- Building a tiny "DNA brain" (Part I: design) [Last Updated On: October 5th, 2011] [Originally Added On: October 5th, 2011]
- DNA "Post-Summer Madness 2011" Interview Part 1 [EME] [Last Updated On: October 5th, 2011] [Originally Added On: October 5th, 2011]
- Proof that Evolution is True/Real/Fact: Mutations, DNA, Natural Selection [Last Updated On: October 9th, 2011] [Originally Added On: October 9th, 2011]
- DA John Bradley once excluded DNA testing [Last Updated On: October 9th, 2011] [Originally Added On: October 9th, 2011]
- Benbassat Says Apple's `DNA' Will Continue After Jobs [Last Updated On: October 10th, 2011] [Originally Added On: October 10th, 2011]
- BRO BOBBY HEMMITT; DNA TRANSFORMATION part 1 [Last Updated On: October 10th, 2011] [Originally Added On: October 10th, 2011]
- DNA - 2 Ounces And A Dream (Instrumental) [Last Updated On: October 10th, 2011] [Originally Added On: October 10th, 2011]
- The Truth About Italian DNA [Last Updated On: October 10th, 2011] [Originally Added On: October 10th, 2011]
- DNA - Ludovico Einaudi [Last Updated On: October 13th, 2011] [Originally Added On: October 13th, 2011]
- DNA - FAIR FIGHT (THE SNITCH) PROD BY : BLESSED BY THE BEATS - Video [Last Updated On: October 13th, 2011] [Originally Added On: October 13th, 2011]
- DNA REPAIR - Video [Last Updated On: October 13th, 2011] [Originally Added On: October 13th, 2011]
- DNA MUTATION - Video [Last Updated On: October 14th, 2011] [Originally Added On: October 14th, 2011]
- Spiritual DNA - Video [Last Updated On: October 14th, 2011] [Originally Added On: October 14th, 2011]
- DNA Structure - Video [Last Updated On: October 14th, 2011] [Originally Added On: October 14th, 2011]
- DNA - Video [Last Updated On: October 14th, 2011] [Originally Added On: October 14th, 2011]
- DNA Replication - Video [Last Updated On: October 14th, 2011] [Originally Added On: October 14th, 2011]
- THE DNA SONG - Video [Last Updated On: October 14th, 2011] [Originally Added On: October 14th, 2011]
- That Spells DNA by Jonathan Coulton - Video [Last Updated On: October 15th, 2011] [Originally Added On: October 15th, 2011]
- DNA Activation Power - 2012 Ascension - Video [Last Updated On: October 15th, 2011] [Originally Added On: October 15th, 2011]
- Journey Inside The Cell - Video [Last Updated On: October 15th, 2011] [Originally Added On: October 15th, 2011]
- DNA - ROMAN NUMERALS (MUSIC VIDEO) - Video [Last Updated On: October 15th, 2011] [Originally Added On: October 15th, 2011]
- DNA - Blonde Red Head - Video [Last Updated On: October 16th, 2011] [Originally Added On: October 16th, 2011]
- [HD] The Kills - DNA (Live in Paris @ Bataclan, April 6th, 2011) - Video [Last Updated On: October 17th, 2011] [Originally Added On: October 17th, 2011]
- Blackfield - DNA - Video [Last Updated On: October 22nd, 2011] [Originally Added On: October 22nd, 2011]