A broad bi-partisan coalition of House and Senate lawmakers has introduced legislation to establish a five-year, $1 billion initiative to ensure DNA testing for death row inmates who claim innocence. The “Advancing Justice Through DNA Technology Bill,” supported by House Judiciary Chairman F. James Sensenbrenner and Senate Judiciary Chairman Orrin Hatch, includes an Innocence Protection Act (IPA) provision aimed at reducing the risk of wrongful convictions. Under this portion of the bill, all states applying for IPA grant funding must provide death row inmates with access to DNA testing. (Associated Press, September 30, 2003) Additional funding is available to establish training services for lawyers assigned to capital cases, to increase the maximum amount of compensation for federal inmates who were wrongfully convicted, and to establish in-state DNA Testing Programs, which are named in honor of Kirk Bloodsworth, the first death row inmate exonerated by DNA evidence. Learn more about this bill. See Innocence.