DNA Testing Backlogs in Criminal Justice

¶ … National Institute of Justice claims that DNA is "not used to its full potential in the criminal justice system," partly due to the lack of capacity of current laboratories (p. 1). Scores of cases are on hold because of delays and backlogs in testing, even when DNA samples have been collected from crime scenes and suspects. There is also a dire lack of trained personnel who are qualified to analyze the samples, and no concerted effort to improve criminal justice and forensics training in DNA analysis.

Budgetary constraints are, on the whole, the root cause of many of the problems hampering efforts to use DNA to its full advantage and ensure a more efficient and effective criminal justice system. I do believe that DNA testing should ideally be mandatory in cases in which DNA evidence was collected, in order to reduce numbers of wrongful convictions and to positively identify suspects in a clear, unequivocal way.

As long as the DNA testing procedures are carefully monitored to eliminate error, it is foreseeable that current backlogs can be reduced. All the NIJ recommendations work together, so it is impossible to choose only one that I would emphasize, but the first recommendation of how to improve current laboratory facilities is the focal point. An injection of funding into improving crime laboratories would help with all the aforementioned problems, including the lack of training for qualified staff and the increased physical capacity to conduct more tests, more often.

However, building new laboratories is only the beginning. The fourth recommendation, which is to support training and education for forensic scientists, is ultimately the most important one because no amount of laboratory space can make up for staffing shortages. Training personnel effectively and ensuring that DNA tests are accurate and reliable is crucial to the criminal justice system.

The fact that DNA evidence sits on police shelves has become common knowledge, as it has been reported in the mainstream news as well as in criminal justice professional circles (Oberg & Seibert, 2015). Delays are leading not only to wrongful convictions but also to crimes committed by suspects who have yet to be.