Despite broad bipar­ti­san Congressional sup­port for the Advancing Justice Through DNA Technology Act, which includes the ​“Innocence Protection Act” (IPA) to help states pay for the costs of post-con­vic­tion DNA test­ing, the Senate Judiciary Committee has delayed action on the bill. Kirk Bloodsworth (pic­tured), whose name accom­pa­nies the IPA, urged Congress to act: ​“Nobody should have to wait for jus­tice. I strug­gled for near­ly 20 years to clear my name. This leg­is­la­tion will pre­vent inno­cent peo­ple from end­ing up on death row, and it will ensure that the tru­ly guilty are caught. Congress should pass this leg­is­la­tion and pre­vent more sto­ries like mine.” Bloodsworth was the first per­son in the nation to be freed from death row on the basis of DNA evi­dence.

The leg­is­la­tion passed the House with over­whelm­ing sup­port by a vote of 357 – 67 in November 2003. Since then, it has stalled in the Senate due to what Senator Patrick Leahy calls ​“need­less delays.” Some crit­ics have said the bill would result in unnec­ces­sary appeals and under­mine the death penal­ty sys­tem. But Senator Leahy, rank­ing minor­i­ty leader of the Judiciary Committee and a co-spon­sor of the bill, said, ​“We have wast­ed a lot of time in report­ing this bill out of com­mit­tee. Every day that the bill is stalled is anoth­er day that rape kits go untest­ed for lack of funds; anoth­er day that inmates with col­orable claims of inno­cence are denied access to DNA evi­dence that could set them free and put the real crim­i­nals behind bars.” The Committee is expect­ed to con­tin­ue its con­sid­er­a­tion of the bill on September 14th. (The Washington Post, September 10, 2004). See Innocence.

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