Senate considers expanding DNA collection to all felony arrests

By Noah Symes, Missouri News Network

JEFFERSON CITY — The Senate Judiciary Committee heard a bill Wednesday that would mandate collecting DNA for all felony arrests.
Currently, DNA collection at the point of arrest occurs only for certain felonies and burglary. Senate Bill 1458 would change this to require DNA collection from anyone 17 or older for all felonies and burglary arrests.
Bill sponsor Sen. Nick Schroer, R-O’Fallon, said the bill provides clarity to an inconsistent system.
“There’s a little confusion with our law; (DNA collections) are taken in some instances,” Schroer said. “It’s kind of sporadic.”
Schroer clarified that collected DNA would be thrown out if charges were dismissed or the arrested person was acquitted.
Ashley Spence, founder of the DNA Justice Project, testified in support of the bill. Spence recounted her experience of rape and how a DNA swab led to her rapist’s arrest.
“While I was asleep in my bed, an intruder came into my apartment, into my bed, and began to rape, beat and nearly killed me,” Spence said. “He got away. I never saw his face.”
Spence said the only reason her rapist was caught was because of a DNA swab.
Spence said the man was arrested attempting to break into the home of three young women in California, one of 31 states that mandate DNA collection at the point of arrest. The rapist was convicted to 137.5 years in prison, with DNA used as leading evidence in the case.
Spence said that if her rapist had been arrested in Missouri, “he would still be free raping and terrorizing his victims, because he would have not swabbed his cheek.”
Collected DNA is submitted to the FBI’s Combined DNA Index System, known as CODIS. This system helps law enforcement identify DNA matches. It is also the system that caught Spence's rapist.
John Roman, director for the Center on Public Safety and Justice at NORC at the University of Chicago, also testified in support of the bill. He said the bill would help expand CODIS and increase its use in solving crimes.
“Eligibility is largely limited to people convicted of the most serious offenses,” Roman said.
Roman said that DNA is often only added for those likely to receive longer sentences, limiting CODIS’s ability to help law enforcement link small-time offenders to their possible more serious crimes.