The United States represents 5% of the world population and yet has 25% of the world’s prison inmates. It is estimated that as many as 10% of those imprisoned are actually innocent of the crimes they were convicted of. Yet, 10,000 unsolved murders are on the books of police agencies around the country today. Sadly, a child in the United States is more likely to die as the result of murder than in any other industrialized country. As a society, we must insist that we bring all our capabilities and the latest technologies to bear in ensuring the safety of all our citizens, that the guilty are punished and the innocent remain free.

In all states, anyone arrested for a felony is fingerprinted with ink, a technology that was developed in the 1930’s. The national fingerprint database contains approximately 35 million finger prints for comparison. In most cases of premeditated crime, the criminal simply wears gloves which render the fingerprint method useless.

Despite the availability of DNA technology, today only 34 states require convicted felons to be DNA fingerprinted and only 12 states require DNA fingerprinting of those arrested for a felony. The United States is seriously behind other industrialized countries in utilizing this available technology to protect its citizens. England has had such a law for several years and uses DNA as an investigative tool with great success

DNA Fingerprinting is a newer proven technology that brings intelligent crime investigation into the 21st century. DNA has historically been used in the United States as a prosecutorial tool and not as an investigative tool. Where it has been used as an investigative tool, many innocent prisoners have been exonerated and released. Conversely, in states that have enacted the DNA Fingerprint Law, serious crime perpetrators have been identified and convicted and arguably without such law, would still be at large.