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Earlier this month, the National
Institute of Justice and the Institute for Law and Justice
hosted a DNA Evidence and Sexual Assault workshop in Washington
DC. The 36-member task force was asked to look at field-based
approaches to studying the cost effectiveness of DNA evidence
collection and analysis. Many of the participants were original
members of the National Commission on the Future of DNA.
The group was not only multi-disciplinary but included
practitioners with members representing survivors, the rape
crisis community, public defenders, prosecution, policy and
research, academia, the judiciary, law enforcement, forensic
examiners, and forensic science.
The dialogue was interesting and challenging. Not surprisingly,
I was assigned to the group tasked with addressing apprehension.
Our questions included:
- What are the anticipated
outcomes of using DNA to improve apprehension of the true
perpetrator?
- What activities are related to
using DNA evidence to improve apprehension of the true
perpetrator?
- What are the costs associated
with these activities?
Two other groups addressed the same questions as they relate to
prosecution and the court process, and victims and survivors.
My group quickly identified many of the benefits of DNA evidence
and analysis. A few of the benefits we listed were:
- Validation – for the victim,
protocols (i.e., the forensic examination), policies and
procedures (i.e., evidence collection and storage procedures),
and prosecution
- Credibility – for the victim,
the community, law enforcement and prosecution
- Evaluation of programs and the
effectiveness of those programs, i.e., the cost of the
forensic examination and its value
- Shattering myths about sexual
assault victims and sex offenders
- Solving cases, identifying and
exonerating suspects
- Saving lives
- Preventing sexual assault
- Successful prosecution
Costs were also fairly easy to
identify in that we recognized that many laboratories would need
to hire additional personnel or retrain personnel to analyze DNA
evidence and money to purchase new equipment. Increased
attention to forensic science has also encouraged many
laboratories to seek full accreditation, another costly and
labor-intensive process. In addition to the costs of DNA
analysis from the forensic unknown component, many states are
still working diligently to obtain and upload known offender
profiles into their state databases. Aside from the costs of
doing the actual DNA analysis, we also recognized the costs
associated with funding the forensic examination for survivors
and appropriately training law enforcement to correctly collect
the DNA evidence from crime scene(s) and suspects.
Although there was some disagreement as to who should be
included in a known offender database and some cautionary words
about not directing all sexual assault money to DNA analysis,
the group overwhelming agreed about the incredible benefits of
DNA analysis. How could anyone who knows anything about sexual
assault not see the benefit?
A friend of mine once said that her audiences’ eyes glaze over
just at the mention of DNA. If this is true, something is
dreadfully wrong. I waited my entire career to be where we are
today. States across the country are solving current sexual
assault cases and cold cases. Numerous people, mostly women and
children, would be alive today or at least would not have to
have been robbed of their life as they knew it, if law
enforcement had been able to analyze evidence that was available
at the time an attack was first reported to them.
The most difficult task in front of us was to measure the cost
effectiveness. I for one could not find the words. I have
difficulty evaluating how much it would be worth if the suspect
who sexually assaulted and killed two little boys in San Diego
had been identified, apprehended and convicted, after sexually
assaulting and killing a woman in Florida years earlier. How
much is it worth to a man who is wrongfully convicted and
exonerated by DNA? Fortunately, NIJ allowed us to identify the
costs with promises that they would continue to work on the cost
analysis. It’s moments like these that I feel lucky to be in the
law enforcement profession. In this case, my job is much easier. |
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