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DNA Forensic Technology Solving Crimes
Since taking office in 1999, Attorney General Bill Lockyer has championed the use of proven technology to fight crime that includes analyzing DNA evidence to produce crime-solving matches.
The Attorney General worked to eliminate the inherited huge backlog of DNA samples and pushed for improvements in a system that solved an average of one case a year. Today, the California Department of Justice operates the largest working DNA data bank in the country, processing more than 200,000 DNA samples from convicted felons and matching them to old, unsolved cases that now averages one case a day.
California's cold hit program has allowed local law enforcement agencies to clear their DNA evidence backlog of over 13,000 unsolved cases and propelled the number of "hits" from one a year to an average of one a day. A "hit" occurs when DNA evidence from an unsolved crime sample matches a DNA profile from evidence in another case or an offender's DNA profile in the CAL-DNA Convicted Felons database.
The DNA "Cold Hits" chart shows how many crime-solving matches have been made by year since 1984 when California began collecting blood for qualifying offenses and during the first six months of 2003.
DNA "Cold Hits" Chart
The Cal-DNA Convicted Felons data bank also has aided investigations through DNA hits. The Investigations Aided chart shows how many investigations have been aided since 1984 when California began collecting blood for qualifying offenses and during the first six months of 2003.
Investigations Aided by DNA Chart
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