Post-conviction DNA Testing
Advances in science and in particular, DNA testing, has become a method for innocent people who have been wrongly convicted to be exonerated. DNA testing is a predominant forensic technique which makes it possible to obtain conclusive results in cases in which previous testing had been inconclusive. Postconviction testing has been requested not only in cases in which DNA testing was never done, but also in cases in which the more refined technology may result in an indisputable evidence.
The Innocence Protection Act allows convicted individuals access to DNA testing if they met certain conditions such as the possibility that testing could produce new material evidence that would raise a reasonable probability that the individual did not commit the offense. Among other restrictions, it limits new testing to evidence that was not previously tested and generally requires it to be done within 36 months of conviction. Forty-eight U.S. states have post-conviction DNA testing access statutes; two do not.
Read more about this topic: Innocence Protection Act
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