National Commission on the Future of DNA Evidence Proceedings Meeting 6: Ritz Carlton Hotel Boston, Massachusetts July 25 & 26, 1999

• NCJ Number: 241601
• Date Published: July 1999
• Length: 136 pages
• Agencies: NIJ
• Publication Type: Conference Material

Annotation

This report on the proceedings of the sixth meeting of the National Commission on the Future of DNA Evidence contains the agenda, an update on Commission business, and reports from and presentations related to the Commission's working groups.

Abstract

The update on Commission business primarily addresses the forums in which the work of the Commission is being reported and some of the feedback received. The Post-conviction Issues Working Group report addresses the uniform statute development by the working group regarding the obtaining of post-conviction DNA testing. The model statute addresses the "time bars" in States which provide a time limit on filing for a new trial or post-convictions relief or appeal. The working group believes such laws fail to take into account advances in the technology and uses of DNA that may be relevant to a case but emerge after the time limit for submitting such evidence. The Crime Scene Investigation Working Group Report describes some of the working group's efforts to develop training material for first responders and criminalists regarding the protection, detection, collection, and preservation of DNA evidence at crime scenes. A presentation on evidence storage issues is related to the working group's efforts. The report by the Laboratory Funding Work Group pertains to its continuing efforts to calculate the costs associated with the elimination or reduction of laboratory backlogs for analyzing crime-scene evidence. This report is followed by a presentation and discussion that addresses privacy considerations and database sample retention. The presentation and discussion at the meeting's working lunch considers the relatively recent technology for developing DNA from a suspect's fingerprints. This is followed by the report and discussion of an issue being addressed by the Legal Issues Working Group, which consists of a constitutional analysis of arrestee DNA sampling. The meeting's transcript contains comments and questions in the discussions.