Wednesday, July 10, 2002

dna legislation

A bill recently passed by Delaware's Senate but not yet signed by Governor Minner calls for the collection of DNA information from all people convicted of felonies in Delaware. What happens if the people required to be tested say no? In California, a law was passed four years ago requiring DNA testing for people convicted of violent felonies. There are 900 Californian inmates refusing to take part.

Another bill that was signed by the Governor would possibly change the appearance of some indictments filed with Superior Court. When the identity of the person who committed a crime is unknown, but DNA evidence has presumably been collected, "it is sufficient to describe the accused as a person whose name is unknown but who has a particular DNA profile."

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