In the Senate of the United States,
December 6 (legislative day, September 22), 2000.
Resolved, That the bill from the House of Representa-
tives (H.R. 4640) entitled ‘‘An Act to make grants to States
for carrying out DNA analyses for use in the Combined DNA
Index System of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, to pro-
vide for the collection and analysis of DNA samples from cer-
tain violent and sexual offenders for use in such system, and
for other purposes.’’, do pass with the following
AMENDMENT:
Page 26, after line 6, insert:
SEC. 11. SENSE OF CONGRESS REGARDING THE OBLIGA-
TION OF GRANTEE STATES TO ENSURE AC-
CESS TO POST-CONVICTION DNA TESTING
AND 
COMPETENT 
COUNSEL 
IN 
CAPITAL
CASES.
(a) FINDINGS.—Congress finds that—
(1) over the past decade, deoxyribo-nucleic acid
testing (referred to in this section as ‘‘DNA testing’’)
has emerged as the most reliable forensic technique for
HR 4640 EAS
identifying criminals when biological material is left
at a crime scene;
(2) because of its scientific precision, DNA test-
ing can, in some cases, conclusively establish the guilt
or innocence of a criminal defendant;
(3) in other cases, DNA testing may not conclu-
sively establish guilt or innocence, but may have sig-
nificant probative value to a finder of fact;
(4) DNA testing was not widely available in
cases tried prior to 1994;
(5) new forensic DNA testing procedures have
made it possible to get results from minute samples
that could not previously be tested, and to obtain
more informative and accurate results than earlier
forms of forensic DNA testing could produce, resulting
in some cases of convicted inmates being exonerated
by new DNA tests after earlier tests had failed to
produce definitive results;
(6) DNA testing can and has resulted in the
post-conviction exoneration of more than 75 innocent
men and women, including some under sentence of
death;
(7) in more than a dozen cases, post-conviction
DNA testing that has exonerated an innocent person
HR 4640 EAS
has also enhanced public safety by providing evidence
that led to the apprehension of the actual perpetrator;
(8) experience has shown that it is not unduly
burdensome to make DNA testing available to inmates
in appropriate cases;
(9) under current Federal and State law, it is
difficult to obtain post-conviction DNA testing be-
cause of time limits on introducing newly discovered
evidence;
(10) the National Commission on the Future of
DNA Evidence, a Federal panel established by the De-
partment of Justice and comprised of law enforce-
ment, judicial, and scientific experts, has urged that
post-conviction DNA testing be permitted in the rel-
atively small number of cases in which it is appro-
priate, notwithstanding procedural rules that could be
invoked to preclude such testing, and notwithstanding
the inability of an inmate to pay for the testing;
(11) only a few States have adopted post-convic-
tion DNA testing procedures;
(12) States have received millions of dollars in
DNA-related grants, and more funding is needed to
improve State forensic facilities and to reduce the na-
tionwide backlog of DNA samples from convicted of-
HR 4640 EAS
fenders and crime scenes that need to be tested or re-
tested using upgraded methods;
(13) States that accept such financial assistance
should not deny the promise of truth and justice for
both sides of our adversarial system that DNA testing
offers;
(14) post-conviction DNA testing and other post-
conviction investigative techniques have shown that
innocent people have been sentenced to death in the
United States;
(15) a constitutional error in capital cases is in-
competent defense lawyers who fail to present impor-
tant evidence that the defendant may have been inno-
cent or does not deserve to be sentenced to death; and
(16) providing quality representation to defend-
ants facing the loss of liberty or life is essential to
fundamental due process and the speedy final resolu-
tion of judicial proceedings.
(b) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense of Congress
that—
(1) Congress should condition forensic science-re-
lated grants to a State or State forensic facility on
the State’s agreement to ensure post-conviction DNA
testing in appropriate cases; and
HR 4640 EAS
(2) Congress should work with the States to im-
prove the quality of legal representation in capital
cases through the establishment of standards that will
assure the timely appointment of competent counsel
with adequate resources to represent defendants in
capital cases at each stage of those proceedings.
Attest:
Secretary.