More than $16 million in grant funding
transferred to the Bureau of Justice Assistance has been awarded
to the states to establish, develop, and upgrade computerized
identification systems compatible with CODIS, the FBI's National
Crime Information Center, and automated fingerprint systems compatible
with the FBI's Integrated Automated Fingerprint Identification
System.
CODIS Case Highlights
Using CODIS, the Illinois State Police
Laboratory linked a 1999 solved sexual assault case to three
other sexual assaults in which the suspect was previously unknown.
The 1999 case involved a sexual assault on two female college
students who were unable to identify the offender. Police, however,
were able to develop a suspect from witnesses' descriptions and
circumstantial evidence. CODIS matched this suspect's DNA profile
to three other cases that occurred in 1994 and 1995.
A DNA profile developed by the Virginia
Division of Forensic Science in Richmond resulted in the resolution
of an unknown subject rape case. In March 1997, a man raped and
sodomized a woman after breaking into her home. The police had
no suspects in the case but were able to retrieve biological
evidence from the crime scene. This evidence was sent to the
Richmond laboratory, where a DNA profile was developed and searched
in CODIS. In March 1999, CODIS linked the crime to a profile
in Virginia's Offender Index. At the time of the identification,
the offender was serving time in a New York prison for robbery,
with a prior conviction in Virginia for grand larceny.
See also
DNA Units I and II |