DISTRICT ATTORNEY - NEW YORK COUNTY

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 1, 2010

CONTACT: Erin Duggan
212-335-9400

DISTRICT ATTORNEY VANCE STATEMENT SUPPORTING ALL-CRIMES DNA BILL

Legislation Will Greatly Expand DNA Collection Upon Conviction

Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance, Jr., today released the following statement regarding Governor David A. Paterson’s program bill expanding DNA collection to defendants convicted of any and all Penal Law crimes. Currently, only 46 percent of defendants convicted of Penal Law crimes submit DNA samples. In the three years since DNA testing was broadened to include some, but not all, misdemeanor offenses, DNA samples from those crimes have led to matches in previously unsolved homicides, sexual assaults and other violent crimes.

DA Vance said: “DNA testing is one of the most reliable and cost-effective tools that we have in law enforcement. An expanded database will help convict the guilty, exonerate the innocent, and bring closure to thousands of victims in unsolved cases. The success of the DNA databank is indisputable – looking at just one misdemeanor category, petit larceny, the statistics speak for themselves. Since adding this crime to the list of eligible offenses, DNA matches for misdemeanor petit larceny convictions have led to matches in at least 31 homicides, 101 sexual assault cases and 206 burglaries, among many more cases.

“It is rare that a single piece of legislation has such an incredible power not only to solve crimes, but to prevent them. I urge all of our state lawmakers to expedite the passage of this legislation. This is an important step in making sure our laws recognize and utilize the best technology to protect our residents. ”

At a press conference today with the Governor and district attorneys from across the state, District Attorney Vance described one case in which a defendant was able to avoid capture on a rape despite having cycled many times through the state’s court system. Although the police had DNA from his first rape in 1997, a positive identification could not be made through photographs or fingerprints. In between 1999, when the DNA database was created, and the man’s second known rape in 2003, the defendant was convicted nine times on low-level offenses, including drug crimes – crimes that today are not eligible for DNA collection. He finally submitted DNA linking him to the 1997 attack following his conviction of the second rape, a crime that could have prevented if this legislation had been in place.

Statistics on the current DNA Database support the effectiveness of this measure. Since the first expansion of the database, which included some misdemeanors, at least 164 more cases have been solved in Manhattan alone, including: 17 Homicides, 84 Sexual Assaults, 34 Burglaries and 19 Robberies.

The state currently has 356,054 samples collected upon conviction in its database, and 31,559 samples taken from crime scenes. This has solved or aided in the investigation of more than 9,500 crimes – leaving more than 22,000 DNA samples collected at crimes scenes without a match.

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Additional news available at: www.manhattanda.org

New York County District Attorney | duggane@dany.nyc.gov | 212-335-9400