AML/CFT: taking the sweat off the white collars of criminals

Vance is a vocal supporter of the All Crimes DNA Bill (he's made a video: see it at http://t.co/W1srQtij )

This is not a new initiative - it passed the New York State Senate in June 2011. But now it needs a bit of a kick in the Assembly to try to get it into state law. At present, DNA may be collected and retained in only about half of State offences.

In June, New York's city's mayor, Michael Bloomberg, issued a statement saying, "The value of DNA evidence as a law enforcement tool is indisputable… We urge the Assembly to follow the Senate’s lead and pass a bill that will help law enforcement protect the innocent and convict the guilty."

It is interesting that the financial district appears to be leading the push towards the Bill which, in most cases, might be presumed to relate to inter-personal or property crime.

But critics say that the plan is open to abuse and goes too far: if passed all those convicted of any offence - including the most minor offences with no personal or property-related aspects.

But, saysThe Downstate Coalition for Crime Victims, DNA collected from those convicted of petty theft contributed to the "solving" of 41 murderers.

In one case, DNA evidence resulted in the arrest of a killer - and the release of two falsely accused suspects, say the parents of a murdered girl.

Now the New York Governor, Andrew Cuomo, has weighed in. making his annual State of the State Address (honestly.. it's what it's called, including capital letters) he said "We are missing an important opportunity to prevent needless suffering of crime victims. We are also failing to use the most powerful tool we have to exonerate the innocent."

A previous attempt at such a bill, in 2010 by David Paterson, the former Governor, failed reportedly because agreement could not be reached on how much access defence lawyers should have to the database.

Cuomo says that much work will be needed to ensure "the integrity of the data bank."

A National DNA Database was launched in the UK in 1995. In 2007, a Judge called for the entire UK population to be added to it as a means of providing a massive shortcut in investigations, a view that the the Prime Minister Tony Blair had espoused a year earlier. But by 2008, the database was embroiled in scandal after considerable errors were found in it. By 2009, it was reported to be the biggest such database in the world with more than 5 million entries - out of a total population of around 70 million. Massive changes in the structure of the database have been implemented: only those convicted are now stored (previously, those arrested had samples taken, even if they were not charged) and records of those charged but not convicted are being purged.