PRINTER'S NO. 3348
No. 585 Session of 2004
INTRODUCED BY WEBER, BENNINGHOFF, ARMSTRONG, BALDWIN, BARRAR,
BELFANTI, BLAUM, CAPPELLI, CLYMER, CORRIGAN, CRAHALLA, CURRY,
DeLUCA, DENLINGER, FICHTER, GEIST, GILLESPIE, GINGRICH, GOOD,
HENNESSEY, HORSEY, KELLER, KILLION, KOTIK, LEDERER, MILLARD,
O'BRIEN, O'NEILL, PALLONE, PICKETT, REICHLEY, TANGRETTI,
E. Z. TAYLOR, THOMAS, TIGUE, TRUE, WALKO, BROWNE AND
J. TAYLOR, MARCH 8, 2004
REFERRED TO COMMITTEE ON JUDICIARY, MARCH 8, 2004
A RESOLUTION
1 Memorializing the Congress of the United States to amend
2 provisions of law relating to facilitation of law enforcement
3 exchange of DNA identification information to expand the
4 types of DNA samples which are entered into the Combined DNA
5 Index System (CODIS).
6 WHEREAS, DNA technology is increasingly vital to ensuring
7 accuracy and fairness in the criminal justice system; and
8 WHEREAS, In the late 1980s the Federal Government laid the
9 groundwork for a system of national, state and local DNA
10 databases for the storage and exchange of DNA profiles, known as
11 the Combined DNA Index System (CODIS); and
12 WHEREAS, CODIS maintains DNA profiles in a three-tiered
13 distributed database which is available to law enforcement
14 agencies across the country for law enforcement purposes; and
15 WHEREAS, In order to take advantage of the investigative
16 potential of CODIS, in the late 1980s and early 1990s states
17 began passing laws requiring offenders convicted of certain
1 offenses to provide DNA samples; and
2 WHEREAS, Currently all 50 states and the Federal Government
3 have laws requiring DNA samples to be collected from specified
4 categories of offenders; and
5 WHEREAS, The statute governing the national DNA index
6 currently authorizes the inclusion in the index of profiles of
7 "persons convicted of crimes," which is narrower than the scope
8 of DNA collection under existing legal authorities in most
9 jurisdictions within the United States, including the
10 Commonwealth of Pennsylvania; and
11 WHEREAS, As a result of the narrow Federal statutory
12 language, states cannot enter into the national DNA index all
13 the information they collect from their investigations,
14 including DNA information from specified categories of
15 adjudicated juvenile delinquents; and
16 WHEREAS, As a further result of the narrow Federal statutory
17 language, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania cannot enter certain
18 DNA information collected by law enforcement agencies, including
19 critical DNA information that may lead to capture or exoneration
20 for crimes such as murder and rape; therefore be it
21 RESOLVED, That the House of Representatives of the
22 Commonwealth of Pennsylvania memorialize the Congress of the
23 United States to amend 42 U.S.C. § 14132(a)(1) to allow the
24 inclusion in CODIS of DNA profiles of "other persons, whose DNA
25 samples are collected under applicable legal authorities"; and
26 be it further
27 RESOLVED, That copies of this resolution be transmitted to
28 the presiding officers of each house of Congress and to each
29 member of the Pennsylvania congressional delegation.
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