Congress approved legislation on Tuesday that U.S. Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT) and U.S. Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner (R-WI) introduced to give law enforcers access to Rapid DNA technology that could help reduce DNA backlogs.
The Rapid DNA Act would establish a system for integrating Rapid DNA technology, which can analyze DNA samples in 90 minutes or less, into law enforcement operations. Traditional DNA analysis, in contrast, can take weeks.
Rapid DNA meets FBI quality assurance measures, and samples could be quickly compared to profiles stored in the FBI’s Combined DNA Index System (CODIS).
“This critical legislation — which has garnered support from the National Association of Police Organizations, the Fraternal Order of Police, and the National District Attorney’s Association — updates the law and leverages advancements in rapid DNA technology to expedite analysis in the FBI’s Combined DNA Index System,” Hatch said.
“If enacted, this common sense proposal will enable law enforcement to analyze DNA in record time, reducing backlogs in rape kits and keeping violent criminals off our streets. By facilitating the use of rapid DNA technology, this bill will also help to exonerate those wrongly accused of crime,” he added.
Sensenbrenner called Rapid DNA a promising new technology that could lead to more effective law enforcement.
“It will help quickly identify arrestees and offenders, reduce the overwhelming backlog in forensic DNA analysis, and make crime fighting efforts more efficient while helping to prevent future crimes from occurring,” Sensenbrenner said. “It will also save time and taxpayer dollars.”
Hatch noted that Attorney General Jeff Sessions supported the Rapid DNA Act during his Senate confirmation hearing, stating, “Rapid DNA analysis is a hugely important issue for the whole American criminal justice system. It presents tremendous opportunities to solve crimes in an effective way and produce justice because it’s the kind of thing that you can’t fake or mislead.”