Last week, Lendon posted about some recent advocacy work JHF was involved with in Albany.

We were part of a broad coalition of survivors, advocates and members of the criminal justice community that is encouraging lawmakers to pass a simple All Crimes DNA bill into law for New York State. Current law only allows for collection of DNA samples from offenders upon conviction of 48% of penal law crimes. We know that violent criminals also comment lesser crimes.When the DNA databank was expanded to include misdemeanors in 2006, 305 sexual assault and 71 homicide crime scene profiles hit to DNA profiles collected from persons convicted of petit larceny and criminal trespass alone. By collecting DNA upon conviction of all crimes, we increase the likelihood that a criminals DNA profile can be matched to crime scene evidence from violent sexual assaults and even murders.

Presently, a simple bill has passed the New York State Senate. A more complex bill has been passed in the Assembly. New York Governor Andrew Cuomo strongly supports the simple Senate bill. We're calling on the Speaker of Assembly, the Honorable Sheldon Silver, to allow for a simple All Crimes DNA to come to the floor for a vote. We only have a few hours before the legislature adjourns. We don't want crime victims and survivors to wait another year to get justice. And we don't want to wait another year to keep violent criminals from harming others. Will you join our efforts? Please email Speaker Silver and ask him to allow for a vote on a simple All Crimes DNA Bill. You can find sample text below.

Email to: Speaker@assembly.state.ny.us

BCC: advocate@joyfulheartfoundation.org

Subjects: Crime Victims Need Your Support on All Crimes DNA

Body:

Dear Speaker Silver,

I urgently request your leadership in passing legislation that requires DNA collection from all those convicted of a crime in New York. The expansion of the DNA databank will require samples from those convicted of penal law crimes to be compared against profiles collected from thousands of unsolved crimes in New York State. Both the Senate and Assembly have passed bills relating to expansion of the DNA databank: the Assembly has passed a bill (A.5886-A) which creates a new state commission for the integrity of the criminal justice system, along with an all crimes DNA expansion. The Senate has passed a bill (S. 5560) which only contains the all crimes DNA expansion. The Governor has called for passage of the Senate bill and I urge you to do the same. We cannot have the legislature adjourn without this critical element to protect victims and survivors, overwhelmingly women and children.

Collecting DNA from offenders holds violent perpetrators accountable, prevents future crimes and provides healing and justice for survivors. DNA exonerates the innocent and has dramatically prevented the incidence of wrongful conviction. Since establishing New York’s DNA databank in 1996, thousands of crimes—including 3,353 sexual assaults and 800 murders—have been solved, and many, many more prevented. When the DNA databank was expanded to include misdemeanors in 2006, 305 sexual assault and 71 homicide crime scene profiles hit to DNA profiles collected from persons convicted of petit larceny and criminal trespass alone.

The recent arrest of Lerio Guerrero demonstrates the power of DNA in solving crimes, but it also demonstrates how urgent it is that we pass the All Crimes DNA legislation before the end of this session. In 1998, Guerrero brutally attacked a woman in the Lower East Side. He cycled in and out of the criminal justice system, but never had to submit a DNA sample because his misdemeanors did not require collection. But a DNA sample collected last month matched the rape from 1998. Thirteen years later, the woman who was viciously attacked on Orchard Street may finally receive some peace and justice. Expanding the State’s DNA databank to cover all remaining penal law convictions will ensure that even more New Yorkers can be protected from the horror and trauma of violence and abuse. Today, you have the rare opportunity to do something now that we know for certain will solve and prevent crimes, make an immediate difference in the lives of thousands of crime victims and prevent thousands more from ever being crime victims in the first place.

Sincerely,

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