Debbie Smith Reauthorization Act of 2008

DEBBIE SMITH REAUTHORIZATION ACT OF 2008 -- (House of Representatives - July 14, 2008)

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Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas. I thank the distinguished member of the Judiciary Committee and the manager of the minority side, as well as the chairman of the full committee, Mr. Conyers; the ranking member, Mr. Smith; the subcommittee Chair, Mr. Scott; and the ranking member, Mr. Gohmert.

As a member of the subcommittee on crime and a senior member of the House Judiciary Committee, I rise with great enthusiasm to support H.R. 5057, the Debbie Smith Reauthorization Act of 2008.

And I salute Mr. and Mrs. Smith. This is not a new bill to me. Congresswoman Maloney has worked very hard and has engaged the many women of the Congress to look at this issue in many, many different ways. We thank you, Debbie Smith for your courage, and we thank you for your bravery.

This is an important initiative. There are many improvements that have made this bill even better, but had it not been for Debbie Smith and her courage, we would not be where we are today.

As my colleague has already said, this bill was named for Debbie Smith who was kidnapped in her Virginia home and raped by a stranger. The Debbie Smith DNA backlog grant bill authorized grant money to States to collect samples from crime scenes and convicted persons.

This legislation also allows us to conduct DNA analysis and enter these results into a comprehensive national database. Debbie Smith's attacker remained unidentified for over 6 years, until a DNA sample collected from a convicted person serving time in Virginia State prison revealed his involvement in her rape. Although eventually identified, the 6 years between crime and identification allowed Ms. Smith's attacker to engage in more criminal activity.

What is the purpose and value of this legislation? It is to ensure that the perpetrator, the person who has acted in a violent and heinous way, is tried and convicted in a direct and fair and just manner, and that this individual is taken off the streets in order not to harm anyone else.

I am very gratified that we have expanded this legislation and that it is also an opportunity not only to ensure that those who have committed the crime are ``doing the time'' but to make sure that DNA is accurate and untainted for a fair and just results.

I support this legislation, and therefore, I offered a successful amendment that would require the Attorney General to evaluate the integrity and security of DNA collection and storage practices and procedures at a sample of crime laboratories throughout the country to determine the extent to which DNA samples are tampered with or are otherwise contaminated in such laboratories. This is crucial. A person who should be convicted and is still walking the streets, can create more danger, and those who have been tried and incarcerated on contaminated DNA deserve a fair and just recommendation of their case. Contaminated DNA helps no one and this amendment corrects that problem.

The sample should be a representative sample and should include at least one lab from each State. My amendment would require the Attorney General to conduct this evaluation annually, and the Attorney General would be required to submit the evaluation to Congress. This amendment is necessary, and it authorizes some $10 million over a 5-year period to allow this process to occur.

In Harris County, Texas, and other places around the Nation, DNA evidence was contaminated and wrongfully used to convict persons based upon faulty evidence. An investigation into the crime lab in Houston, for example, revealed that bad management, undertrained staff, false documentation, and inaccurate work cast doubt on thousands of DNA-based convictions. Investigators raised serious questions about the reliability of evidence in hundreds of cases they investigated and asked for further independent scrutiny and new testing to determine the extent to which individuals were wrongly convicted with faulty evidence.

Two individuals, Mr. Rodriguez and Mr. Joshua Sutton, were victimized by this faulty DNA process. Both served time in jail and were released when their cases were properly reviewed.

This is evidence that my amendment helps an already good bill, which will help victims like Mrs. Smith, but it also provides the added integrity to this system.

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