WHITE HOUSE PROPOSES
5-YEAR,
$1 BILLION PLAN FOR DNA
Just one week after the high-level
White House Roundtable on Violence
Against Women, RAINN's Scott Berkowitz
was on hand as Kellie Greene and
crime-fighter John Walsh shared
the podium with Attorney General
Ashcroft as
the AG unveiled President Bush's
plan to eliminate the backlog of
unanalyzed
DNA evidence from rape crime scenes.
RAINN's Jamie Zuieback also attended
the announcement.
Ashcroft noted that "DNA evidence
can breathe new life into long dormant
investigations. Already, evidence
has identified hundreds of murderers
and
rapists nationwide. I know there
are some very courageous survivors
here
with us today, who were finally
able to see justice done when DNA
testing
identified their perpetrators."
Then he introduced Kellie Greene,
who
relayed her experience and reinforced
the importance of DNA to bring rapists
to justice.
The U.S. Department of Justice
now estimates that the DNA backlog
contains
evidence from 350,000 rape and murder
cases. The Bush initiative proposes
$1
billion over five years to analyze
rape kits and offender samples and
increase lab capacity.
Sen. Orrin Hatch and Rep. James
Sensenbrenner, chairmen of the Hill
Judiciary Committees, are now working
on bipartisan legislation to realize
the administration's new plan. RAINN
expects Congress to take action
on
clearing the DNA backlog later this
year.
In a humorous digression from the
serious announcement, General Ashcroft
told the media about Operation Freefall,
the national skydiving fundraiser
for RAINN and SOAR taking place
later this month. After encouraging
SOAR founder Greene to discuss the
event, Ashcroft got America's Most
Wanted host John Walsh to agree
to jump.
In other DNA news, Berkowitz this
month testified in favor of a Connecticut
bill that would mandate collection
of DNA samples from all convicted
felons,
as is the case in 25 other states.
Currently, Connecticut is the only
state
that does not collect DNA even from
convicted murderers.
Berkowitz also joined State Rep.
Jeffrey Berger, the bill's sponsor,
Assembly Majority Leader James Amann,
forensic expert Dr. Henry Lee and
attorney Barry Scheck at a press
conference to promote the bill.
Excerpted from RAINNews, May
2003
PAST RAINN NEWS COLUMNS:
The Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network is the nation's largest
anti-sexual assault organization. With a national perspective and broad
reach, RAINN is a trusted resource for media, policymakers and the public.
Additionally, RAINN operates the National Sexual Assault Hotline at
1.800.656.HOPE. Comprised of more than 1,000 local affiliates, the hotline
has helped more than half a million victims of sexual assault since 1994.
For more information, please visit the RAINN website at www.rainn.org
