President Barack Obama on Thursday signed into law Rep. Adam Schiff’s (D-CA) legislation that provides funding for the collection of suspects’ DNA in cases that involve murder, sexual assault, kidnapping, burglary and aggravated assault.
Schiff, who represents West Hollywood, introduced The Katie Sepich Enhanced DNA Collection Act in 2010. The House of Representatives and Senate passed the bill in December.
“Katie’s Law” bears the name of Katie Sepich, a college student who was raped and murdered eight years ago in New Mexico. Her attacker was arrested several times over subsequent years but was never linked to Katie’s murder because his DNA wasn’t collected until 2006.
“Just as we fingerprint arrestees and those convicted of crimes, it makes absolute sense to collect a DNA profile when someone is arrested for a violent felony, and this bill will encourage states around the nation to join California and other states that have adopted arrestee testing,” Schiff said in a statement.
View the full article here: Schiff’s DNA Collection Bill Becomes Law
