Labs are performing more DNA tests but can't keep up with the rising number of crime scene submissions from law enforcement, resulting in an 85 percent increase in the testing backlog.
The process of testing a skin, blood or semen sample for DNA has improved markedly, but law enforcement has submitted so many samples that the national backlog has grown by 85 percent since 2011. By Tom Jackman Tom Jackman Reporter covering criminal justice locally and nationally Email Bio Follow March 23 at 8:00 AM For 15 years, the Justice Department has tried to reduce the backlog of crime scene DNA samples awaiting testing at state and local crime labs.
The number of samples submitted for DNA testing nationwide went from about 242,000 in 2011 to 308,000 in 2017, according to the GAO’s findings. The number of samples tested also rose, from about 217,000 to about 279,000, and so the backlog rose, from about 91,000 samples awaiting testing in 2011 to about 169,000 untested samples in 2017.
“Turnaround time” — from when a sample is sent to the lab to when results are received — is always a hot topic with police investigators. DellaManna said that time used to be about a year. The GAO study said the national average is now about 150 days, and that number did not decrease between 2011 and 2017.
The GAO study noted that scientific advancements have enabled scientists to develop DNA profiles from “touch DNA,” from the simple touching of an object, which wasn’t previously possible. That increased the types of evidence crime scene investigators could search for, and that labs can now test for. Increased awareness of DNA also has led detectives to resubmit samples in hopes of solving cold cases, sending even more cases to the lab.
United States Latest News, United States Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
DNA leads to arrest 34 years after Navy recruit's slayingSANFORD, Fla. (AP) — Detectives investigating the 3-decade-old slaying of a Navy recruit used genealogical research involving DNA to track down and arrest a suspect who was a one-time Navy training classmate of the victim, authorities in Florida said Thursday.
Read more »
Alabama man charged with capital murder in connection to 1999 killing of two teenagersAn Alabama man has been charged with capital murder in connection to the 1999 killing of 2 teenage girls.
Read more »
Suspect in decades-old murder, rape cold cases in Maryland identified through DNA: Police
Read more »
Elon Musk-backed company launches a website to poke fun at DNA testing — and it's hilariousDNA Friend might be a joke. But for DNA testing companies, it hits very close to home.
Read more »
Jack the Ripper's identity may finally be known, thanks to DNAResearchers tested blood and semen found on a shawl near the body of the killer's fourth victim, a woman whose mutilated body was found in September 1888.
Read more »
DNA links suspect to 1999 cold case murders of 2 Alabama teenage girls, police sayAlabama police have linked a suspect to the 1999 cold case murders of two 17-year-old girls using DNA and genetic genealogy. Investigators identified Coley McCraney, of Dothan, Alabama, in the murders of J.B. Beasley and Tracie Hawlett as the case closed in on two decades without being solved, Ozark
Read more »