If you've ever been caught watching television police drama shows and CSI clones, you've probably seen "DNA" used to convict the evil murderer villain. For those of you who failed every class of biology you've ever been in, DNA is a kind of chemical fingerprint unique to every individual and his or her cells.
Testing for DNA became the most reliable source of physical evidence since its advent in 1985. At first people were reluctant to convict based on genetic evidence (remember O.J. Simpson?), yet with the ubiquitous exposure that comes with television shows, juries are now comfortable with the process.
Now that the public trusts the testing, it has opened the door for legislation around the nation. Every state has mandatory DNA sampling for convicted sex offenders, and a great majority now force those convicted of felonies to give a sample.
Governor Cuomo, state Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos, and Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver signed a bill into law that take the historic step in making New York the first state in the nation to implement an "all crimes DNA" policy.
Now, if you are convicted of any felony or misdemeanor you will be required to give a DNA sample.
Testing hasn't been without its controversy. The ACLU and other civil liberties groups have criticized similar policies implemented by other states because they may violate our right to protection from unlawful search and seizure.
Civil liberties groups also worry about government misuse of the information, such as selling the information to insurance companies or the possibility of criminals getting their hands on the information and abusing it for their own purposes.
Concern for government abuses is important indeed, but in these particular cases the states were implementing laws that took DNA samples from not only the people convicted of crimes, but the people arrested as well.
Cuomo and other leaders have done a good job with this bill in avoiding a morally sticky situation where people who haven't committed crimes are being placed into a "big brother" database containing everyone's DNA. The law itself is also aware of possible abuses and is careful to ensure the safety of the information.
Once implemented, the law will help solve long open cases. Now, rather than continuing to waste resources on crimes committed by someone already in prison, they can close the cases and divert attention to unsolved cases.
In that same respect, it can keep career criminals in prison for longer and protect our streets more effectively against repeat offenders by adding jail time from previous crimes that were previously unsolved.
Expanding the state's DNA database also has far reaching benefits for those innocent of crimes as well. Those that are wrongly convicted could remain in prison without DNA testing, and the real perpetrator would be walking free. Any help, no matter how small, would be a huge victory for people that are wrongfully convicted.
All of this benefit for a simple, non-invasive, $30 test.
It's an open secret that our criminal justice system isn't perfect. Mistakes happen and justice isn't always served, but with the intelligent implementation of technology we can continue to make our system work better.
Who could have guessed that the New York state government would be working to make something better?
