Given the incredible power of DNA to exonerate the innocent and expose the guilty, it’s alarming that a mountain of red tape still impedes its use.
This new forensic tool has been a game-changer for our criminal justice system, exonerating more than 300 people nationwide. One of them was New Jersey’s own Gerard Richardson, an Elizabeth man who spent 19 years in prison for a murder he didn’t commit.
He finally won his freedom last year, and today, he’ll be in Trenton with his lawyer from the Innocence Project, to tell Senate lawmakers why it’s so crucial to pass a bill that fixes our state’s DNA testing laws.
Two big problems continue to ruin innocent lives and let the guilty walk free: First, it’s too difficult to use DNA test results from private laboratories to reveal the true perpetrator of a crime. Second, it’s virtually impossible for an ex-con who still swears he’s innocent to get DNA testing.
Read the full, original story: End the absurd bureaucracy around DNA testing
