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.
The private groups have way more money and wh cares if they are wrong. States do not process the entire genome, just certain sections to avoid database privacy concerns. Labs size need to double with a greater % of processing machines. Touch dna changed everything
Then why do those DNA kits only take 3weeks 🤔
Hire people...there are people with degrees in this waiting for jobs but the HR process is terrible
I listen to way too many true crime podcasts which likely inflate a sense of emergency in my head about this issue, but truly this is devastating for so many individuals and families who could have closure on a terrible chapter of their lives with DNA test results.
Pardon the double entendre, but this is criminal. $1B is a small price to pay to avoid executing the wrong person (or anyone), incarcerating wrongly for life, or failing to find a rapist before he strikes again. More $$ is needed to cut the time from150 days to 1.
And yet AncestryDNA can process DNA like world champs 🤷🏻♀️
Everyones birth seems in doubt, who fathered whom is messy matter
?Uhh, expand the lab, maybe? ?Open another lab elsewhere, maybe?
Maybe they should start using 23andme and Ancestry? They seem to get peoples DNA done pretty quickly and cheaply?
almost yeah