Just one day after the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee passed the ​“Advancing Justice Through DNA Technology Act,” a mea­sure that includes the Innocence Protection Act and that ensures access to post-con­vic­tion DNA test­ing for those in prison with claims of inno­cence, the bill has been incor­po­rat­ed into leg­is­la­tion intro­duced in the House Judiciary Committee. As part of the ​“Justice for All Act of 2004,” the DNA bill is antic­i­pat­ed to quick­ly advance to the House floor for a vote, after which point it can move to the full Senate for con­sid­er­a­tion next week. It has already been passed by the House Judiciary Committee. Among oth­er pro­vi­sions, the ​“Advancing Justice Through DNA Technology Act” autho­rizes $25 mil­lion over five years to help states pay the costs of post-con­vic­tion DNA test­ing, includ­ing death penal­ty cas­es, and it pro­vides grants to states for cap­i­tal pros­e­cu­tion and defense train­ing to improve the qual­i­ty of death penal­ty tri­als and assist fam­i­lies of mur­der vic­tims. The bill is the prod­uct of a bi-par­ti­san, bicam­er­al nego­ti­a­tions led by Senate Judiciary Chairman Orrin Hatch of Utah and Ranking mem­ber Patrick Leahy of Vermont. The bill ref­er­ence num­ber in the House is H.R. 3214 and in the Senate it is S. 1700. (Washington Post, Sept. 22, 2004; see also Press Release from The Justice Project, September 22, 2004) Read Senator Leahy’s remarks fol­low­ing the Judiciary Committee’s pas­sage of the ​“Advancing Justice Through DNA Technology Act.” See Innocence.

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