Adam Schiff: “as a co-sponsor of the Advancing Justice Through DNA Technology Act of 2003, which passed overwhelmingly in the House in…”

“as a co-sponsor of the Advancing Justice Through DNA Technology Act of 2003, which passed overwhelmingly in the House in November 2003, I rise in strong support of the bill on the floor today, the Justice For All Act, which I am also proud to be an original co-sponsor of. At the outset I want to compliment my colleague, the gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. Delahunt). From the very beginning we spoke about this bill, two former prosecutors, and while I had been focused mainly on the power of DNA to solve unsolved crimes, to go after violent felons who still walk the streets, my good friend, the gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. Delahunt), made the equally compelling point that DNA evidence has the power to exonerate those charged with the most serious crimes, to exonerate those on death row even; as has been proved the case, not merely calling into question evidence in an original trial, but rather proving conclusively the innocence of people who faced the ultimate penalty. The DNA database improvements in this bill will help solve countless crimes and also exonerate innocent individuals wrongly imprisoned.”