I'm posting this because I have worked with and been extremely impressed by Amy. It is because of constituents like her that I am fighting to get back to the State House. ALL constituents deserve a voice, not just the ones we align with politically. Amy is a perfect example of an advocate and she has worked too hard to have her Representative discount her issue.
Rape victim from Marlborough urges expansion of DNA collection
By Kyle Cheney/State House News Service
BOSTON -- Police know who raped Amy 16 years ago, but they don't know his name, his race or even whether he's still alive. All they have is his DNA profile, an identifier so precise that the likelihood of two people sharing the same markers is near zero.
Amy, a Marlborough resident who declined to provide her last name because of the sensitivity of her experience, urged Massachusetts lawmakers yesterday to pass a bill she said would identify the man who raped her at knifepoint if he is ever arrested for another crime.
"At 22 years old, I was sure that the last image I would have on this earth was his faceless shadow," she told Judiciary Committee members at a State House hearing. "I spent years drinking too much, suffering from depression. Rape is not something that happened to me one night. It was something I relived."
Her testimony, before a rapt and silent audience of lawmakers and a standing-room-only crowd, came in support of a bill that would permit police to gather DNA evidence upon the arrest of a felony suspect, rather than after conviction, as the law currently allows.
Supporters of the proposal, including Senate Minority Leader Bruce Tarr, House Minority Leader Bradley Jones, Rep. Kate Hogan, D-Stow, and various Massachusetts district attorneys, argue that it will identify repeat criminals when they're arrested for new alleged crimes.
According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, 24 states had expanded DNA collection to suspected felons as of August 2010. All states require convicted felons to submit DNA samples.
Under existing law, "any person who is convicted of an offense that is punishable by imprisonment in the state prison shall submit a DNA sample to the (State Police) within 1 year of such conviction or adjudication." A proposal being considered by the committee would require anyone "charged with the commission of a felony" to submit a DNA sample to the state police following arraignment. The bill would require the police to expunge any DNA record "if the original offense upon which the collection of DNA is based does not result in a conviction."
The bill, which has sat without a hearing in the committee since January 2011, encountered resistance from civil liberties advocates and at least one Boston defense lawyer.
The lawyer, John Cunha, called the proposal an "outrageous" and "un-American" incursion on constitutional protections from illegal search and seizure, as well as the presumption of innocence.