Capturing DNA's crime fighting potential: DNA databases are expanding and solving many cold cases, but crime labs often lack the cold cash to fulfill their potential.

A bedroom window left open on a warm summer night. A little girl sexually assaulted and beaten to death. It was a "cold case" suited for a TV drama, but unfortunately it was not fiction. The recently solved 1986 murder of an 11-year-old Fort Worth, Texas, child is just one of a growing number of cold cases being investigated and solved today as a result of advances in DNA technology.

"Cold case squads" devoted to unsolved homicides now exist in most big city police departments. In Fort Worth, a single detective who investigates such cases was able to link the crime to a family acquaintance who had attended the girl's funeral. A DNA sample obtained from the convicted felon was matched to the case via a DNA database. Such "hits" are becoming routine as state and national databases hold more and more samples.

"The bigger the DNA database, the more successful," says Chris Asplen, vice president of the law firm Smith Alling Lane. As U.S. assistant attorney, he directed the Commission on the Future of DNA Evidence for attorneys general Janet Reno and John Ashcroft. "We get the most bang for the buck. We know the most valuable investment in forensics is to process DNA samples and evidence."

Virginia, in 1989, was the first state with a DNA database. By 1999, every state had one. Lawmakers have continued to add categories of offenders who must provide samples.

"Commit a burglary in most any state, and your DNA will be added to a database. Even some misdemeanors in half of the states require a DNA sample," Asplen says.

PROLIFIC PROFILES

Forty-three states now have laws to collect DNA samples from all convicted felons, swelling the numbers of genetic profiles in state databases.

In 1992, the FBI nationalized the system with CODIS, the Combined DNA Index System. Now housing nearly 1.5 million samples, the system enables federal, state and local officials to exchange and compare DNA profiles electronically, scanning for matches between crime evidence and convicted offenders.

"Google it any day of the week and you'll see cold cases being solved as a result of DNA databases," says John Morgan, director of the Office of Science and Technology for the National Institute of Justice. The question before lawmakers, he says, is "how far are you willing to go with it?"

California, Louisiana, Minnesota, Texas and Virginia allow samples from people arrested but not yet convicted to be added to the state database. In the United Kingdom, every person arrested provides a DNA sample. Officials there think that within 15 to 20 years, they will have one-third of the male population of the U.K. in the database.

A Minnesota provision passed last year expands DNA sample collection to adults and juveniles charged with many serious crimes if probable cause has been determined.

"It was presented to us as the 'modern fingerprint,'" says Senator Jane Ranum of Minneapolis. "Some of us believed that there at least needed to be a probable cause determination in order to take someone's DNA. I'm more comfortable with how we passed it, requiring that judicial finding."

The law also requires destroying the DNA samples of people who later have charges dismissed. An attorney and former prosecutor, Senator Ranum says that enthusiasm to expand DNA collection to arrestees should not overlook the potential impact on individual liberties and groups of people.

"We need to think about how, when we expand DNA databases to protect the public, we protect against creating new ways in which the criminal justice system has a disparate effect on minorities," she says.

Concerns about civil liberties raised by government genetic databases often are overshadowed by practical concerns about capacity and funding to process all of the DNA samples called for under state laws. Also troubling is that the use of and demand for DNA in criminal justice has exposed quality assurance problems in some crime labs.

BACKLOGS PERSIST

State forensic labs haven't been able to keep up with the dramatic increases in demand, according to Morgan. The Justice Department estimates that as many as I million DNA samples are owed to a database--that is, people who are required under their state law to provide a sample but have not done so.

"This includes people being released from prisons and going back into your communities," Morgan says.

There also are significant backlogs in testing and processing samples that have been collected, perhaps another half million. And evidence from homicides, sexual assaults and property crimes are similarly backlogged.

Some states have slowed and prioritized the collection and analysis of DNA samples to try to keep from getting too far behind. Many crime labs lack up-to-date technology that would provide for faster and more cost-effective analysis. Training in new technologies to meet new requirements also is an ongoing need in law enforcement.

The president's DNA Initiative proposed more than $1 billion in funding over five years to improve the use of DNA at federal, state and local levels. Although not yet fully funded, Department of Justice grants to states are helping to jumpstart processing of casework and convicted offender samples, as well as providing for training, research and development.

The federal Justice for All Act of 2004 expanded existing grant programs both in amount and scope. Authorization for grants was extended through 2009 at $20 million per year. The law provides not just for DNA analysis but also other forensics including ballistics examination, latent prints and toxicology.

Money devoted to catch-up processing of backlogged evidence and samples can have quick and dramatic results, Morgan says. "An $11,000 grant to Kansas City solved nine rapes and 22 homicides," he says.

QUALITY ASSURANCE

To qualify for funds, the Justice for Ali Act requires that states conduct independent external investigations into any allegations of negligence or misconduct at crime labs.

In response, Texas lawmakers last session created the Texas Forensic Science Commission, in the wake of allegations of serious problems in several police forensic labs, especially in Houston.

The DNA section of the Houston lab was closed two years ago when an audit revealed contaminated evidence, poor documentation of results, insufficient staffing and training. Thousands of potentially affected cases were reviewed, including some involving defendants sentenced to death. At least two wrongful convictions have been identified and individuals were released from prison when re-examination of their cases revealed mishandled evidence.

"The problems at the Houston crime lab played a major role in passing this legislation," says Senator John Whitmire, a Houston lawyer and chair of the Senate Criminal Justice Committee. "There was a mounting number of cases, which made quality assurance a statewide concern. It was an alarming call to the Legislature to step in," he says.

The commission is charged with investigating any suspected misconduct or incompetence that results in flawed forensic science. The appointed members of the commission will identify sources of such problems, recommend corrective action and follow up to make sure any problems are resolved, says Whitmire.

The Texas legislation also expanded the collection of DNA samples to all prison inmates and provided updated rules for the Department of Public Safety's use of the DNA database. It also requires that forensic evidence used in court be from a certified lab.

"This should significantly improve the science and quality of evidence in Texas courtrooms," Whitmire says.

THE CSI EFFECT

So remarkable is the impact of forensic DNA that art is imitating and influencing real-life criminal justice.

DNA has prompted a whole new genre of TV crime dramas in which complicated and old cases are quickly and easily solved with DNA analysis and other high-tech forensic science. This, in turn, is said to be affecting actual criminal cases, especially the juries that hear them.

Prosecutors, defenders and judges call it the "CSI effect," referring to the hit CBS television drama "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation." CSI and spin-off shows are influencing juries that increasingly expect forensic evidence to be available and infallible. Without it, convictions are harder to get.

A recent CSI episode had actor William Peterson as lead investigator Gil Grissom remarking, "Physical evidence doesn't lie. It's not influenced by prejudice or emotion."

This raising of the bar in what is expected of forensic science is a mixed blessing, says Asplen. "Obviously these shows push the envelope in terms of how we actually are able to use DNA and other forensic technology out in the field," he says.

"But from a policy standpoint, it means the general public, those serving on juries, recognize its great power and potential," Asplen says. "It's another reason that government should want to maximize its use."

Donna Lyons heads NCSL's Criminal Justice Program in Denver, Colorado.