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| Ohio Legislators Want Inmates' DNA More Accessible |
| By U-Wire |
| Published: 11/19/2001 |
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New legislation has been introduced by Representative Ann Womer-Benjamin, R-Aurora, and Ohio Attorney General Betty Montgomery that would increase the number of criminal offenses for which inmate DNA is collected. The new bill would allow the state of Ohio to collect blood samples from inmates convicted of six additional felony offenses, including those inmates already serving time for those offenses. The six additional offenses include aggravated robbery, attempted aggravated murder, attempted murder, burglary, felonious assault and robbery. Current law only allows for the collection of DNA from individuals convicted of 14 other crimes: aggravated burglary, aggravated murder, attempted felonious sexual penetration, attempted rape and rape, unlawful sexual conduct with a minor, kidnapping and murder. According to Montgomery, the inmate blood samples undergo a DNA analysis to create profiles that accurately identify each person. The profiles are then loaded into a database to link serial violent crimes to each other and prison inmates to unsolved crimes. Womer-Benjamin stated that she thought this legislation was important because 'casting a wider net will solve more crimes.' She also stated that the burglary charge was an especially important one to add because statistics have shown that it can lead to other offenses. Montgomery also said that she would like to use DNA to make sure the people who are sitting in prisons are the ones who have committed the crimes. The Bureau of Criminal Identification and Investigation, a division of the Attorney General's Office, administers the database that currently holds 31,000 samples. 'The more DNA we can put in a database, the more likely we'll be able to solve crimes with no suspects,' Montgomery said. |
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