Editorial: Ensuring justice with DNA

Friday, Oct. 12, 2007 | 7:23 a.m.

We wrote in April about a Chicago man who was freed after spending nearly 26 years in prison for a violent crime he did not commit.

Nothing could be done about the years wasted behind bars, but his reputation, at least, was restored through the work of the Innocence Project.

This is an organization begun 15 years ago that tests DNA samples from inmates and compares the results with samples gathered from their alleged victims or crime scenes.

The Chicago man was the 200th person cleared of criminal charges as the result of modern DNA testing funded by the Innocence Project.

Nationwide, however, this opportunity for positively proving or disproving a convicted person's guilt is limited. A sizable backlog of cases exists, largely because of funding shortfalls within police departments for staff and equipment.

The Innocence Project has proven how fallible the justice system can be and how important it is for states and the federal government to increase their rate of testing inmates in eligible cases.

Although it fell short of meeting the need, Congress appropriated $8 million last year for testing. Attorney Barry Scheck, a founder of the Innocence Project, told USA Today that dozens of cases could be affected by that amount of money.

But as the newspaper reported Thursday, not a penny of it has yet been allocated. The problem is that states are required to apply for this funding, and as part of the application they are required to certify that their police departments are taking "reasonable measures" to preserve biological evidence from crime scenes, the newspaper reported.

State officials say they are reluctant to submit in writing that all of their police departments are doing this. Yet the requirement is sound. People's lives and reputations can now depend on the availability of such evidence.

Even without the incentive of federal funding, states should ensure that their police departments are taking advantage of modern technology to prevent miscarriages of justice.