Debbie Smith Act

The Debbie Smith Act of 2004 (42 U.S.C. 13701) provides United States federal government grants to eligible states and units of local government to conduct DNA analyses of backlogged DNA samples collected from victims of crimes and criminal offenders. The Act expands the Combined DNA Index System (CODIS) and provides legal assistance to survivors of dating violence. Named after sexual assault survivor Debbie Smith, the Act was passed by the 108th Congress as part of larger legislation, the Justice for All Act of 2004 (P.L. 108-405), and signed into law by President George W. Bush on October 30, 2004. The Act amends the DNA Analysis Backlog Elimination Act of 2000 (42 U.S.C. 14135), the DNA Identification Act of 1994 (42 U.S.C. 14132) and the Violence Against Women Act of 2000. The Act was reauthorized in 2008, extending the availability of DNA backlog reduction program grants, DNA evidence training and education program grants, and sexual assault forensic exam program grants through fiscal year 2014.

On March 3, 1989, a man wearing a ski mask entered Debbie Smith's Williamsburg, Virginia, home and threatened her with a gun, dragged her into the woods, blindfolded her and raped her repeatedly over the next hour. She participated in the collection of DNA evidence for a rape kit, but it was not formally tested and entered into a national database until 1994.

On July 24, 1995, a DNA technician identified Debbie's attacker, Norman Jimmerson, while analyzing various DNA records. Jimmerson, then serving time for abducting and robbing two women in 1989, was sentenced to 161 years in prison under the three strikes law.

The Act attempts to eliminate backlogs of DNA samples collected from crime victims and criminal offenders, to expand the number and type of samples included in the Combined DNA Index System (CODIS), and to provide legal assistance to survivors of dating violence. The Act amends the DNA Analysis Backlog Elimination Act of 2000 (42 U.S.C. 14135) to reauthorize and broaden the number of eligible grantees under the Debbie Smith DNA Backlog Grant Program. The Act expands eligible grantees to include local units of government and authorizes the appropriation of $151,000,000 each year for fiscal years 2005 through 2009 to states and local units of government to conduct DNA analyses of backlogged DNA samples collected from victims and criminal offenders. Under the Act, the Attorney General may award grants to eligible grantees to alleviate backlogs requiring a forensic science other than DNA analysis pending the state or local unit of government can certify that no significant backlog awaits DNA analysis and that there is no immediate need for laboratory equipment, supplies, or additional personnel to ensure the timely processing of future DNA evidence. The Act also amends the DNA Analysis Backlog Elimination Act of 2000 (42 U.S.C. 14135) to provide for the use of vouchers or contracts for laboratory services to assist in the reduction of backlogged DNA evidence.

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