Washington AG cracks down on criminals who fail to submit DNA
WA Attorney General's Office cracking down on criminals who fail to submit DNA for database
Convicted criminals who haven't submitted their court-ordered DNA are now being tracked down and forced to comply in Washington.
SEATTLE - Convicted criminals who haven't submitted their court-ordered DNA are now being tracked down and forced to comply in Washington.
Over the years, the Attorney General's Office says thousands of offenders were told to submit DNA as part of their sentencing, then they disappeared, and their profiles were never collected.
Since the program started in 2019, the AG's office has located around 2,000 people and collected their outstanding DNA profiles.
"Those folks owe that DNA lawfully, it’s part of their sentence," said AG Bob Ferguson.
As part of Ferguson's crackdown on noncompliant offenders, his team started hunting down those who still need to submit their DNA.
"It may take local law enforcement to go to someone’s door and say, ‘Hey, you owe this DNA,’" explained Ferguson.
Because there isn't a centralized database for those who owe their DNA to the state, Ferguson says the process is more complicated.
His team started with those already incarcerated, resulting in the collection of more than 800 outstanding DNA profiles.
"We work with the Department of Corrections, say, ‘Hey, there is a list of folks that we know owe DNA, and you got them, please go collect the DNA,’" said Ferguson.
The team then created a process to comb through different databases, looking for the most serious offenders.
"These are murderers, these are folks who engage in armed robberies—very serious felonies," said Ferguson.
Some of other challenges that Ferguson's team faces includes tracking down people who have moved out of state. That can be a more complicated process, especially if some of the people they are looking for may not have a home address or have passed away.
Of the 2,000 profiles collected since the program launched in 2019, there have been more than 70 hits to other criminal cases. However, the work isn't over. Ferguson estimates that there are thousands more outstanding profiles to track down.
PREVIOUS COVERAGE: Thousands of DNA samples from Washington criminals are missing from DNA database
Until now, there has been no uniformity for DNA collection in the state's 39 counties and jurisdictions.
"In some jurisdictions for example, it’s quite organized. In the courtroom, you are sentenced, at that moment in time—literally in the courtroom—they take your DNA, get it every time." said Ferguson. "Other jurisdictions they say to the individual, ‘Hey come back and submit your DNA.’ Well, guess what? Not too shockingly, those folks never return to give their DNA."
A new state law changed that July 23. It requires counties to conform to a system, so offenders don't fall through the cracks again.
"Now we are not relying on a criminal, someone convicted of a criminal offense, to come back on their own accord months later," said Ferguson. "We want to stop the system that’s been so chaotic."