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Bulletins & Updates The Crime Lab Project sends occasional newsletters out via email which can also be found here, with the most recent at the top. We'd love to have you join the mailing list! 2004 
Date: October 30, 2004 It's not too late to contact your senators about the Coverdell Act! It's not too late to contact your Senators and Members of Congress about Coverdell. Funding is still under consideration -- we expect news after the election. Meanwhle, let Congress know that labs need these funds! The CLP is pleased to learn that the Senate joined the House of Representatives in passing the Justice for All Act of 2004 (H.R. 5107). The legislation is an appropriations bill for approximately $1 billion over five years to eliminate the DNA backlog. The bill: Creates the Debbie Smith DNA Backlog Grant Program and authorizes $755 million over five years for grants to states and local authorities to eliminate the backlog of untested rape evidence kits. Authorizes grants to state sexual assault coalitions for programs under the Violence Against Women Act and expands VAWA to provide legal assistance for victims of dating violence. Provides grants for training law enforcement, judges and medical personnel on the use of DNA analysis in sexual assault cases. Provides funding to expand local and state witness assistance programs and crime victim notification programs, and extends enhanced rights to crime victims. As we know from our ongoing Coverdell fight, an appropriations bill is not the same as an authorization bill -- it's the first of the two-step process in receiving funding. As some describe it, an appropriations bill is a "hunting license." We sincerely hope that if the President signs this important bill into law, that Congress will put its money where its mouth is and actually provide authorization for these expenditures. We also know that convictions for rape and other crimes require the processing of many kinds of evidence, not just DNA, and hope that this support of forensic science labs extends beyond DNA-only funding.
Date: September 15, 2004 New website section: News & Resources! From time to time, important stories come up in the news which we'll be sharing here, so please check back often.
Date: August 24, 2004 Contact your senators about the Coverdell Act! A fraction of the needed funds were appropriated by the House of Representatives. We're hoping for more help from the U.S. Senate. If your senators have not yet signed the letter by Senator Jeff Sessions, your phone calls to their offices are urgently needed. And please urge your friends, families, and readers to do the same. Even if you have called your Senators recently, please call again to ask specifically for their signatures on this letter. When making contact:
* * * California members of the Crime Lab Project should mark October 1, 2004 on their calendars. At 1 pm in Los Angeles, the California Forensic Science Institute will sponsor a public forum on Prop 69, the DNA Initiative. We will have a location and more information on Prop 69 for you soon! To RSVP and get more information, please contact gcardenas@cslanet.calstatela.edu.
Date: June 24, 2004 Senator Barbara Boxer signs the letter of support! Many thanks to all of you in California who urged U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer to sign the letter of support for funding the Coverdell Act. We just received word from her office that she has signed the Sessions letter! Your calls and e-mails have made a difference! I have not yet heard back from Senator Diane Feinstein's office, but we will keep the pressure on. Due to Ronald Reagan's memorial services, the schedule of Appropriations Committee activities has changed, so we still have time to convince Senator Feinstein to sign on. Please call her office (202) 224-3841 or use the web form to reach her. Calling is preferred! 
Date: June 9, 2004 Critical Time to Make Calls to U.S. Senate Senator Jeff Sessions gets involved -- please ask your Senators to join the fight! Many thanks to those of you who have been calling and e-mailing your U.S. Senators. We are now asking for help again as we make the push toward the deadlines for funding from Congress. Your two phone calls are urgently needed. The Congressional Appropriations Committees have been dragging their feet. Senator Jeff Sessions has taken up our cause, and has created a letter to ask the Senate committee to fund Coverdell. We are seeking the signatures of other Senators on this letter. Because the issue may be decided by the Senate at any time, please call your senators as soon as possible. To get your Senators' phone numbers, go to www.senate.gov and click on "Senators." In this case, phone calls are better than e-mail. Even if you have called you Senators recently, please call again to ask specifically for their signatures on this letter. When making contact:
The letter is reproduced below. Thank you for your immediate assistance and support! The Honorable Judd Gregg Ranking Member Committee on Appropriations Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, State, and the Judiciary Washington, D.C. 20510-2904 Dear Senator Gregg: We are writing to request that the Commerce, Justice, State Committee fully fund the Paul Coverdell National Forensic Sciences Improvement Act of 2000 (Pub. L. 106-561) for $135 million. The Act unanimously passed the Senate and was signed into law in December 2000. As you know, the Coverdell Act authorizes the Attorney General to make grants to States to be used for forensic facilities, personnel, equipment, education, and training. The law enforcement community, particularly forensics science labs, strongly supports current Coverdell funding in the CJS Appropriations Bill. Supporters include the American Society of Crime Lab Directors, the Consortium of Forensic Sciences Organizations, the American Society of Crime Lab Directors Laboratory Accreditation Board, the American Academy of Forensic Sciences, the International Association for Identification, the National Association of Medical Examiners, the National Center for Forensic Science, and the College of American Pathologists. A recent study conducted by the above-mentioned organizations revealed that the largest 50 laboratories in the U.S. ended the year 2002 with an increase of 134% in their backlogs or 270,000 cases. Of those cases 50% were in controlled substances, 18% were in latent fingerprints and 11% were in DNA. say In fact, the organizations estimated that in order to achieve a 30-day turnaround time for all requests they would need in excess of $36 million for personnel and $18 million for equipment. Because Coverdell grants are unique as they may be used for personnel and construction, which forensics labs say they desperately need. Furthermore, the Coverdell Bill requires grantees to be accredited before they receive funds. Fully funding the Coverdell Bill in the FY 2005 Senate CJS Appropriations Bill will allow forensic labs' budgets and staff to keep up pace with their ever-growing caseload, thus enabling prosecutors to try cases in a timely manner and crimes to be solved. Sincerely, Jeff Sessions
COPS AND JOHN LANGLEY JOIN THE CRIME LAB PROJECT! We're pleased to announce that among our many new supporters, John Langley, producer of the COPS television show, has joined the CLP. Made aware of the project by John Morgan Wilson, Langley was quick to offer his support. You can see a link to the Crime Lab Project on the COPS website. We hope all of you with Web sites will follow his example and put a link to our site on your home page. GRAPHIC AVAILABLE Click here to find graphics that can be used on your website to link to the CLP. Show your support for crime labs, and help make others aware of the problems labs face by putting the CLP link on your home page. Your webmaster will find these links easy to use. CONSORTIUM OF FORENSIC SCIENCE ORGANIZATIONS THANKS CLP We've received messages of thanks from Beth Lavach, lobbyist for the CFSO, and from members of this organization. Your efforts are noticed and appreciated! Thank you again for being a part of the Crime Lab Project, and a special thanks to those of you who have contacted us to let us know about your work on behalf of forensic science labs and those they serve.
Date: May 18, 2004 Make a Phone Call and Help Crime Labs! You don't need a Superman cape to be a crime fighter. You just have to understand that it isn't CSI out there, and make a phone call. You don't even need a lot of courage to call or e-mail your U.S. Senator to ask for something you believe in. I'm hoping you believe, as I do, that crime labs across the country are in serious trouble and need the funding Congress already promised when it unanimously approved the Coverdell Act. The situation we are in now is desperate – and shameful. Millions watch TV shows like CSI and Crossing Jordan, but don't see what's really going on in the world of crime labs and medical examiners' offices. Medical examiners offices are closing – in some states, families and investigators have waited a year or more for autopsy results. Other jurisdictions have no trained medical doctor available to do this work. More than one out of four labs do not have the computers they need for basic evidence processing. There is a shortage of personnel, equipment, and facilities for labs throughout the country. 90% of criminal cases in the U.S. are handled by these labs. They need your help. It only takes a few phone calls to make an issue appear on your U.S. Senator's radar. Help us make your senator more aware. Here's all you need to do to help national security, criminal investigations, prosecution of the guilty and release of the innocent, protection of citizens in Internet and property crimes, resolution of missing persons cases, and more. Worth a phone call, don't you think? 1) Look up your U.S. Senators' (each state has two of them) phone numbers or e-mail addresses at www.senate.gov. 2) Calling is best. Call during business hours Eastern time. Leave a brief, polite message saying, "Hello, this is [give your name], and I live in the state of [your state]. I'm calling to ask the senator to support funding the Paul Coverdell National Forensic Sciences Act of 2000. Funding Coverdell will make a critical difference in the ability of forensic science labs to do their work. DNA funding is important, but DNA is only 5% of the work of crime labs – we also need Coverdell. We need funds that will be available to all crime labs, and not just those in a few earmarked labs, as happened with previous bills such as CLIP. For the sake of national security and the safety and security of our local neighborhoods, Coverdell must be funded. Will the senator be supporting funding of Coverdell?" If you don't just get an answering machine, you might be asked to give a little more information about where you live. You won't be quizzed, you don't need to be a forensic scientist to tell your representative that this is important to you. But if you'll feel better being more informed, do a little reading on our Crime Lab Project website. 3) If you can't bring yourself to make a call, just send an e-mail from your senator's website. 4) Do this now. We only have a few more weeks (probably until 6/30 at the latest) before it will be too late to get funding. 5) Send an email to crime @ crimelabproject.com (delete the spaces in this address before you use it) with "CLP" in the subject line to let me know which senators you contacted and when. 6) Forward this message to others. Ask them, in your own words, to be a part of this project. Need to know more about the Crime Lab Project, Coverdell, or what information to put in an e-mail? Peruse the Crime Lab Project website! The funding of the Coverdell Act is supported by major forensic science organizations, such as the highly reputable American Academy of Forensic Sciences, National Association of Medical Examiners, the International Association of Identification, and the American Society of Crime Lab Directors. Please take the time to do this. It's so important!
Date: May 14, 2004 Crime Lab Project Update Our website is underway! The site is under construction, so please bear with us while we continue to work on it. Heidi Mack, our website manager, is developing a logo you can use to link the CLP site to your own, and we'll soon have a list of names of supporters and links to your sites as well. We're also going to include links to some of the horror stories that have been in the news about crime lab problems. Meanwhile, we urgently need your help with a phone/e-mail campaign! Please call (best) or e-mail your U.S. Senators! If the CLP can get at least 10 messages to each member of the Senate from his or her constituents, it can make a difference! Just talk 10 friends or family members into making a call or sending an e-mail, and you can make an important change in funding for crime labs. Feel free to forward this message to others. Also, if you or others make a call, please let us know by sending a copy of the e-mail or a note re the call to elssupport@aol.com. Support Crime Labs! Call Your U.S. Senator to Ask for Funding for the Coverdell Act by June 30, 2004! FOR MORE INFORMATION ON COVERDELL and the CRIME LAB PROJECT and to learn more about HOW TO TAKE ACTION, check the website. If you need to get your Senator's phone number or e-mail address, just go to www.senate.gov. We probably only have until June 30th – at the latest – before the window closes on funding Coverdell. Please make your calls as soon as possible. Please let us know you have called or e-mailed – send a copy of your message or note about your phone call to elssupport@aol.com. Also, we need to contact key members of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee for Commerce, Justice, State and the Judiciary. They are (all area codes are 202): Brownback, Sam (KS) 224-6521 Campbell, Ben Nighthorse (CO) 224-5852 Domenici, Pete (NM) 224-6621 Gregg, Judd (NH) 224-3324 Hollings, Ernest (SC) 224-6121 Hutchinson, Kay Bailey 224-5922 Inouye, Daniel (HI) 224-3934 Kohl, Hebert (WI) 224-5653 Leahy, Patrick (VT) 224-4242 McConnell, Mitch (KY) 224-2541 Mikulski, Barbara (MD) 224-4654 Murray, Patty (WA) 224-2621 Stevens, Ted (AK) 224-3004 About Coverdell: The Coverdell National Forensic Sciences Act was unanimously approved by both houses of Congress and signed into law in 2000. Great PR for the politicians, but all that really did was set up an account that has remained empty: not one dime has actually been released by Congress to fund Coverdell. The Coverdell Act must be funded this year. The Justice Department ignored studies and requests from leading forensic science organizations and took the advice of a law firm – one of the firm's biggest clients is a private DNA company. The result: currently, the Justice Department recommendation is that all federal funding in support of labs be spent only on the DNA backlog. DNA is important. We are absolutely in favor of funding that will help process DNA. But DNA support alone is not enough – Coverdell must also be fully funded. Why? According to a recent study of crime labs by leading organizations of forensic scientists, DNA evidence is only useful in a limited number of cases. Processing DNA is only about 5% of the work crime labs do. It can't be used in every case, and other forms of evidence must be considered at trial as well. Meanwhile, families and investigators wait over a year in some jurisdictions for autopsies to be performed, evidence is misplaced because of a lack of basic computers to track it, crime labs are without staff trained in the many other areas of work, and facilities are inadequate – in some, working conditions are unhealthy. Overwhelmed labs and medical examiners' offices can't keep up with the workload placed upon them, and as a result, errors are made, cases are lost at trial or never prosecuted, the innocent are wrongly held, and the guilty go free. Both national security and community safety are at risk: 90% of all forensic science lab work is done at the state and local level. Coverdell also has the advantage in preventing all funds from being earmarked. That means that it can't be used for ye olde pork barrel. (Funding from a previous bill wasn't protected in this way, and a huge percentage of funds went to one senator's state.) That's also why politicians need to hear from voters – they need to know that voters are concerned about the serious problems in American crime labs, or politics as usual will continue to leave our labs shamefully underfunded. Let your Senator hear from you!
Date: April 15, 2004 Consortium of Writers in Support of the Forensic Sciences Some of you have already heard from me about this – I especially thank Michael Connelly, Laura Lippman, and William Link for their early support. I'm starting a new organization that will not require the payment of dues, attendance at meetings, making donations, or even that you take a turn as a newsletter editor. I do hope you'll find this worthy of your attention. Crime labs in the U.S. can use your help. Everyone bcc'd on this message writes crime fiction. Somewhere along the way, as part of aiming for the truth that underlies the best of fiction, I believe most of you have developed some sense of the toll real crime takes on its victims, and also the price paid when the innocent are wrongly accused. Many of you also do research for your books and stories by talking to people who work in the forensic sciences. Many of those people are generous to writers with their time. This is a chance to do a little paying forward. In October of last year, I was invited to speak at the American Society of Crime Lab Directors (ASCLD) annual meeting. What struck me forcibly (not for the first time, I'll admit), is the huge gap between the public perception of the abilities and resources of crime labs, and the reality. Multiple versions of CSI run at the top of television's ratings charts, and while I love the attention it brings to forensic science, I know that it convinces millions every week that state of the art technology is being used by big staffs of highly trained scientists who work in new facilities – while in Los Angeles County, which has one of the biggest populations of any in the U.S, DNA is seldom used to solve murder or rape cases. You may not believe what I wrote after those dashes in that last sentence, but it's true. The backlog of DNA samples to be processed is so much larger than the available equipment, staff, and facilities, the county labs are lucky to be able to process DNA samples before a case goes to trial. That means that the DNA isn't used until after a suspect is in custody – based on other evidence or because he is caught at the scene. A rapist with previous convictions might not be caught until he has attacked his fifth victim, while the DNA sample from his first victim would have been enough for an identification and arrest – if anyone had had the time and ability to process it. And, in other cases, an innocent individual held for several months is set free only at the point when the DNA is finally processed and excludes him or her – while the real attacker commits other crimes. I wish I could say that was a problem faced only by Los Angeles County. It is not. There are many reasons why resources for law enforcement seldom make it to the crime lab, but the reality is, the majority of American crime labs are seriously underfunded. Meanwhile, in other countries, where there is better support for the forensic sciences, DNA is being used to apprehend burglars. Think about what that means. DNA is isn't the only type of crime lab technology that we fail to properly support. If anything, there is probably too much focus on it as the "cure all" by those who don't know much about how forensic science works. The areas of potential positive impact from better crime labs is enormous: freeing the wrongly accused; identifying, catching, and prosecuting the guilty; solving cold cases; preventing crimes – ranging from protection of property to saving lives and even national security. Families of victims would not suffer the additional pain of long waits for the processing of evidence – for example, they (and investigators) would not have to wait a year or more for autopsy reports, as they now do in some states. So, what is it I'm bugging you to do? I'm looking for crime writers who are willing to agree to take one action at least once a year: when they speak in public, mention the gap between fiction and reality in the resources given to forensic science labs, and ask their audiences to support legislation that will bring better funding to crime labs. For example, Congress must be persuaded to release the funds set aside for the Paul Coverdell National Forensic Science Improvement Act – ask those in your audience to write or e-mail their representatives to say that full funding of Coverdell is important to them. That's it. Once a year. I think when you see how people respond to this information, you'll want to do that more often, but all I ask is once a year. For those of you who don't do much public speaking, just pick an option from the next paragraph. Those who are willing to do a little more might be willing to send an e-mail or a letter or make a phone call to a member of Congress to support of such legislation. Or might be willing to link from their website to a page with facts and figures and legislative updates. There are a great many other things we can do individually to make a difference, but those are a few. This is a matter that should be of concern to anyone in any political party, liberal, conservative, somewhere in between or beyond. I know each and every one of you is extremely busy, so anything more than speaking up once a year is optional. You won't need to watch the Discovery Channel every night or read textbooks to get up to speed on these matters. I'm coordinating these efforts with CFSO, the Consortium of Forensic Science Organizations. CFSO includes ASCLD, the American Academy of Forensic Sciences, the International Association for Identification, and the National Association of Medical Examiners. Each of these organizations includes a number of related organizations dedicated to the forensic sciences. (I'm happy to supply more information on any of these groups, or you can "Google" them.) CFSO will supply us with the information we need, and I'll forward it on to you. When I'm in Washington D.C. at the end of this month and early May, I'll be meeting with Beth Lavach, who serves as a lobbyist for CFSO, and I'll be visiting some members of Congress as well. If you are going to Malice or will be in the area then and want to join me in that endeavor, let me know. If you'd be willing to visit your representatives about this at any other time, please let me know. If you are willing to let me know of any others who might be interested in joining us, pass their names and e-mail addresses along to me, or forward this e-mail to them. Please let me know if I can add your name to this association. Thanks for taking the time to read this. 
Last updated: March 27, 2006 |
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