No Suspect Casework DNA Backlog Reduction Program FY 2001

DNA analysis used in conjunction with the Combined DNA Index System (CODIS) is a powerful investigative tool beginning at the crime scene with the collection of evidence and ending with a judicial conclusion. For CODIS to be truly effective and DNA to reach its full potential, aiding the criminal justice system in solving crimes, DNA databases must be populated with both offenders profiles and DNA profiles from crime scene evidence. DNA profiles obtained from evidence collected in cases where there is no suspect can be compared to local, State, and national DNA databases through CODIS for a match between the evidence and and a convicted felon.

The New Hampshire Department of Safety, Division of State Police Forensic Labortory will examine 250 no suspect cases using federal funding to pay for overtime, equipment for increasing capacity and supplies for DNA anaylsis. All of the DNA analyses will per formed within the New Hampshire State Police Forensic Laboratory. The resulting DNA profiles will be entered into the forensic index section of their State DNA database to be compared to convicted offender indices. Perhaps 10% or more of these forensic profiles from unsolved crimes will find their solutions in the DNA profiles of the convicted offender samples currently populating CODIS.

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