Alabama has adopt­ed new leg­is­la­tion that allows some inmates to obtain DNA test­ing on old evi­dence. However, crit­ics have point­ed out impor­tant lim­i­ta­tions in the new law. The new pro­ce­dure is lim­it­ed to inmates who were con­vict­ed of cap­i­tal crimes, includ­ing those on death row. The Department of Forensic Sciences request­ed this lim­i­ta­tion because they believed they did not have the resources to han­dle a larg­er class of cas­es. Even those con­vict­ed of a cap­i­tal crime face fur­ther hur­dles. For exam­ple, the law requires peti­tion­ers to show that the iden­ti­ty of the guilty par­ty was ​“at issue in the tri­al that result­ed in the con­vic­tion.” In cas­es where a con­fes­sion exist­ed or the inmate pled guilty, DNA test­ing could be denied. DNA tech­nol­o­gy has cleared peo­ple in those cir­cum­stances before, yet this law pre­cludes test­ing in such cas­es. Some see the leg­is­la­tion as at least a begin­ning in a state that was one of the very last in the coun­try to adopt a law to pro­vide after-the-fact DNA test­ing in criminal cases.

(Editorial Board, ​“OUR VIEW: Alabama has a new law expand­ing the state’s DNA data­base and set­ting up a process for Death Row inmates to get DNA tests on old evi­dence,” Birmingham News, June 1, 2009). See Recent Legislation and Innocence.

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