DNA Testing An Election Issue in Poland

The Country Liberal Party (CLP) in Poland is running its election campaign on a promise to ensure DNA testing at every crime scene.  The party also says it will create a DNA database of every person arrested, regardless of the crime.  As a director of an Innocence Project, I frequently hear the comment, "We probably won't need Innocence Projects in a few years, because we now do DNA testing routinely, don't we?"  If only that were true.  I have several cases, including murders and rapes, that were committed in the last few years where neither side bothered to perform DNA tests prior to trial.  In one of them, a murder case, recent DNA testing has demonstrated the inmate's innocence.  If only we could follow the CLP's lead in this country.  [Mark Godsey]