DNA backlog piles up for FBI

0 Comments | USA TODAY, September, 2007 | by Richard Willing

WASHINGTON -- The FBI has fallen behind in processing DNA from nearly 200,000 convicted criminals -- 85% of all samples it has collected since 2001 -- Justice Department records show.

The backlog, which expands monthly, means most of the biological samples the bureau collects have not been stored in the national DNA database and used to solve crimes. DNA from 34,000 convicts has been added to the database since 2001, resulting in 600 matches to unsolved crimes, according to statistics furnished by the Justice Department to the Senate Judiciary Committee. At the same rate, the unloaded samples could help solve an additional 3,200 crimes.

The backlog expanded by about 80,000 samples in 2006, when a law took effect requiring that all federal convicts, rather than...

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