H.R. 5057 would reauthorize the Debbie Smith DNA Backlog Grant Program.

== Detailed Summary ==

<summary>
<b>(This measure has not been amended since it was passed by the Senate on September 25, 2008. The summary of that version is repeated here.)</b>

Debbie Smith Reauthorization Act of 2008 - Amends the DNA Analysis Backlog Elimination Act of 2000 to authorize appropriations for DNA analysis grant programs under such Act through FY2014.

Amends the DNA Sexual Assault Justice Act of 2004 to reauthorize through FY2014 grant programs for: (1) DNA training and education for law enforcement and corrections personnel and court officers; and (2) the sexual assault forensic exam program.
</summary>

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== Status of the Legislation ==

<status>
Latest Major Action: 5/13/2008: House committee/subcommittee actions. Status: Forwarded by Subcommittee9/30/2008: Presented to Full Committee by Voice Vote .President.
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== Points in Favor ==

Findings and Purpose of the original bill:

1) Every 2 minutes, somewhere in America, someone is sexually assaulted.

(2) The Department of Justice reports that in the year 2000, there were an estimated 261,000 rapes and sexual assaults.

(3) The annual National Crime Victimization study consistently finds that only about one-third of rapes in the United States are reported.

(4) According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics of the Department of Justice, in the year 2000, 34 percent of female victims of rape or sexual assault reported that the offender was a stranger.

(5) According to the Department of Justice, DNA evidence is often recovered from crime scenes and can be crucial to the investigation of sexual assaults and other violent crimes.

(6) According to the Department of Justice, the importance of the role forensic DNA evidence plays in solving sexual assault and homicide cases cannot be overstated.

(7) A DNA profile from a crime scene can be entered into the Combined DNA Index System of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (known as CODIS), which allows agencies to match DNA profiles with other profiles entered into local, State, and national databases to identify a suspect or link serial crimes.

(8) A 1999 study commissioned by the National Institute of Justice estimated there was an annual backlog of 180,000 rape kits that have not been analyzed, and news reports indicate that the number of rape kits in the backlog may be as high as 500,000.

(9) Law enforcement officials using CODIS have matched unknown DNA evidence taken from crime scenes with known offender DNA profiles in the State and national DNA database 2,371 times.

(10) At least 100 inmates have been cleared and freed to date due to DNA testing.

(11) By convicting the guilty and freeing the innocent, DNA evidence truly serves the interests of justice.

(b) PURPOSE- The purpose of this Act is to provide adequate funding to ensure that the backlog of unanalyzed rape kits is eliminated.

== Points Against ==

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