PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — A bill in the Pennsylvania House would change when DNA is collected from juveniles in the criminal justice system and how those records are stored.
Under current law, DNA can be collected from juveniles for minor crimes, like simple assault, theft, writing bad checks, or escape.
The prime sponsor, state Rep. Kristine Howard (D-Chester County), said her bill would limit juvenile DNA collection to major crimes of a violent or sexual nature.
“Currently, the list of offenses for which DNA may be collected includes many relatively minor crimes,” she said. “Requiring the collection of DNA for these offenses strikes me as needless considering it will follow the child forever.”
The bill would also automatically expunge DNA similar to other juvenile records.
“We currently seal most juvenile records when the person turns 18,” Howard explained. “But current law makes expunging DNA that was collected based on their offense very difficult and never part of the process of record sealing.”
She believes part of the record-sealing process should mean “evidence collected doesn’t follow them into adulthood.”
The bill passed the Pennsylvania House Judiciary Committee 12-9 on party lines. Committee minority chairman, state Rep. Rob Kauffman (R-Franklin County), opposes the bill. He said he’s concerned someone with a predatory nature could slip through the cracks by pleading to a lesser offense, limiting the “ability of law enforcement to identify them early.”
“I’ll be opposing the legislation,” he said, “but I’m still hopeful the legislation can be improved upon to get to a better product.”
The Pennsylvania District Attorney’s Association also opposes the bill “in its current form.”
“DNA has been used successfully to solve crimes as well as to exonerate the innocent,” Executive Director Greg Rowe said in a statement. “Removing the DNA profiles for some significant crimes, as this legislation would do, would not advance public safety.”
The Pennsylvania Attorney General’s Office said it does not have a stance on the bill as it currently stands.
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