Senate Unanimously Passes Skelos Legislation To Prevent Rapists And Other Criminals From Escaping Prosecution

Manhattan from 1991-1992. Because of the five-year statute-of-limitations, however, Reid escaped prosecution for these attacks.

To further expand the effectiveness of DNA forensic technology, S.5342 requires (1) anyone convicted of a misdemeanor or felony offense and, (2) as a mandatory condition of probation and conditional discharge, certain other designated offenders to provide a DNA sample for inclusion within the New York State DNA Databank. Should a criminal refuse to supply such a sample, he/she would be subject to a class E felony and would violate probation or parole.

In New York State, there are approximately 130,000 misdemeanor and felony convictions and another 11,000 youthful offender adjudications that would be subject to the legislation’s DNA Databank requirements each year. Such an expansion of the DNA Databank would allow law enforcement officials to solve many more crimes, particularly older cases and those involving repeat and serial offenders, and bring the individuals responsible to justice.

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