Robert Smith: “I am very pleased that the distinguished Senator from Utah has recognized the need to address the important issue of…”

“I am very pleased that the distinguished Senator from Utah has recognized the need to address the important issue of post-conviction DNA testing at the federal level and am proud to join his efforts. Senator Hatch's Criminal Justice Integrity and Law Enforcement Assistant Act is an excellent bill that has the strong support from law enforcement officials. It will provide much-needed funds for law enforcement authorities to analyze convicted offender DNA samples and DNA evidence gathered from crime scenes. However, it has become abundantly clear over recent years that funding is not the only problem in the post-conviction DNA testing debate. In determining guilt and innocence, our criminal justice system occasionally makes mistakes. It is our responsibility to take every reasonable measure to prevent miscarriages of justice. Perhaps the gravest injustice that could occur is wrongful imprisonment of an innocent person. Ensuring that all defendants have access to competent counsel would go a long way to minimize the risk of unjust incarceration. Some will say that there is no problem, or that it is so rare as to be negligible, or that we do not yet know the true extent of the problem and should not introduce legislation until we do. I strongly disagree.”