Leahy: Vermont Nets $100,000 Grant
To Help Alleviate DNA Backlog

(WEDNESDAY, Aug. 29) – Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) Wednesday announced that the Vermont Department of Public Safety will receive $100,000 from the U.S. Department of Justice to help reduce a chronic backlog of pending DNA cases in Vermont crime labs.

The grant flows from the Forensic Casework DNA Backlog Reduction Program, which provides state and local governments that have crime labs performing DNA analysis with funds to bolster their capacity through investments in infrastructure and in expanding analysis capacity.  Crime labs use the funds to process DNA samples efficiently and cost effectively.  The grants are also used to identify and test backlogged forensic DNA casework samples.  The allocation is a 70 percent increase in funds from last year, when Vermont received $30,000 under the program.

“DNA is a powerful law enforcement tool,” said Leahy.  “It can help establish guilt or innocence.  Like many states, Vermont has faced a backlog in being able to process these cases.  These funds will help bring closure to pending cases that need these lab results before they can proceed.”

Leahy has been a longtime advocate for use of DNA tests to find the guilty and exonerate the innocent.  Leahy’s groundbreaking Innocence Protection Act, enacted three years ago, will facilitate the use of DNA evidence in death row cases, and he also led in enacting the Debbie Smith Act and other legislative steps to help reduce DNA lab backlogs. 

Leahy chairs the Senate Judiciary Committee, which has jurisdiction over the Justice Department.  He is also a senior member of the Commerce-Justice-Science Appropriations Subcommittee, which handles the Senate’s work in drafting the annual budget bill to fund the Justice Department and its programs, including funding for the DNA Backlog Reduction Program.

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