Kans. bill to expand use of DNA evidence to closed cases

A new bill being introduced in Kansas would expand the set of cases against which law enforcement compares DNA evidence, FOX4KC reports.

Currently, FOX4KC says when DNA evidence is run through Combined DNA Index System (CODIS) that’s run by the Federal Bureau of Investigations, it’s only matched against open cases, not closed ones. This bill, SB102, would expand those search parameters to include closed cases. This, the bill says, could help identify repeat offenders as well as prevent wrongful convictions.

The bill also, FOX4KC reports, calls for the establishment of Closed Case Task Force of more than a dozen people, including police officers, crime victims, and lawmakers, to establish how this process would work. It would comb through the “devil in the details” aspects of the protocol, human rights activist Alvin Sykes, who has pushed for the bill, tells FOX4KC.

The station adds there was no opposition to the bill at a Kansas Senate hearing last week and that it is moving to the full Senate next.

https://www.genomeweb.com/scan/compare-against-closed-cases-too#.XHYE7YlKjIU