When It Comes To Evidence
The emergence of high-tech DNA technologies and improvements in forensic science has impacted the statutes of limitations for crimes in the United States.
Joseph Latta of the International Association for Property and Evidence notes that statutes of limitations for sexual assault cases typically expire in five to six years and three to five year years for felonies, but advances in technology is changing this.
Illinois has eliminated its statute of limitations pertaining to murder cases, while the State of Florida has extended its statute of limitations for murder cases to 99 years.
The Palm Beach County justice system modified its evidence storage to include mobile storage, which has double its evidence storage capacity. Latta notes that adequate property and evidence management is vital, and advises police departments to create systems that allow case or evidence retrieval in less than 60 seconds.
Abstracted by the National Law Enforcement and Corrections Technology Center(NLECTC) from the Law Enforcement Technology (08/04) Vol. 31, No. 8, P. 38; Glass, Jane.
