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- Referred to finance
- Referred to finance
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Requires county medical examiners or coroners to give the state police forensic laboratory DNA samples of unidentified dead or alive and missing persons upon request
In Assembly Committee · Governmental Operations · Sponsor Aileen Gunther
Full text
The text isn't available here yet. Check nysenate.gov.
Sponsor's memo
BILL NUMBER:S2170
Title of bill
An act to amend the executive law, in relation to the classification procedure and use of DNA samples to identify unidentified dead and missing persons
Purpose
Requires county medical examiners or coroners to give the state police forensic laboratory DNA samples of unidentified dead and missing persons upon request.
Summary of provisions
Section 1. Amends subdivision 1 of section 838 of the executive law to provide for DNA samples to be taken and forwarded to the New York State Police for analysis. The results will then be forwarded to the Division of Criminal Justice Services to be maintained in their missing persons files. The Division shall forward records of unidentified deceased persons or unidentified body parts to the National Crime Information Center (NCIC).
Section 1-a. Amends subdivision 1 of section 838 of the executive law to ensure that the above mentioned changes are retained in permanent law.
Section 2. Amends subdivision 4 of section 838 of the Executive Law to provide for the comparison of DNA records received by the Division for the purpose of identifying the deceased.
Section 3. Adds a new subdivision 3 to section 995-d of the Executive Law to ensure that all records, findings, reports and results of DNA testing performed pursuant to this section shall be treated in a manner consistent with subdivisions five, six, seven and eight of section nine hundred ninety-five-c of this chapter.
Section 4. Effective date.
Justification
The New York State Police have one of the most advanced forensic laboratories in the country, making it possible to identify deceased persons through DNA technology.
Currently, when a person is reported missing, police often use fingerprints or dental records in attempting to match the missing individual to any unidentified human remains. This proactive approach to trying to assist families and bring home missing loved ones would be greatly enhanced by the use of DNA technology, since DNA "fingerprinting" is a much more advanced and positive means of identification than traditional methods, and can also be used successfully when fingerprints or dental records are unavailable or unachievable. Police involved in an investigation could obtain DNA samples from a hairbrush, clothing, bloodstains, etc. and attempt to
match that DNA with DNA taken from unidentified human remains found throughout the country.
Hundreds of persons are buried in unidentified "John & Jane Doe" graves each year in New York State alone, many of whom are children. The psychological trauma that parents and relatives suffer is justification in itself for government to do whatever they can to bring even minimal closure to these missing person investigations, by identifying the deceased and allowing the families to bring their loved ones home to eternal resting places. Statutory procedure is necessary to ensure uniform compliance, just as statutory procedure exists for fingerprinting and for dental records.
Legislative history
2013-14: S3830/A2319 - Finance/Governmental Operations
Fiscal implications
Minimal additional staffing at the New York State Forensic Laboratory and Division of Criminal Justice Services.
Effective date
This act shall take effect on the first of the calendar month next succeeding the sixtieth day after it shall have become a law.
Summaries, headlines and scores are AI-generated from the official bill text. How we score bills. Source: NYS Open Legislation.