Lawfully Owed DNA
What is Lawfully Owed DNA?
Lawfully Owed DNA (LODNA) refers to DNA samples that the law requires from certain arrestees or convicted offenders (depending on the state), but were never collected.
When collected, these DNA samples are uploaded to CODIS—the national DNA database—helping law enforcement match crime scene evidence to known offenders across the country. It is the criminal justice system’s most powerful tool for solving sexual and violent crime.
Why Is This a Crisis?
Nationwide efforts to test backlogged rape kits are generating leads for law enforcement, but only about 25% of kits match an offender in the database.
To maximize the public safety benefits of DNA technology, both sides of the database must be fully populated: crime scene evidence, including rape kits, alongside offender profiles. While testing rape kits can link different crime scenes together, a match to a putative perpetrator will not happen if the offender’s DNA was never collected in the first place.
In 2020, the United States Department of Justice estimated that there are 40,000 to 50,000 uncollected offender samples per state. Joyful Heart Foundation (JHF) data confirms more than 154,000 owed DNA samples across just five states alone, while a former law enforcement professional indicated that California may have as many as 2 million owed samples.
Impact on Public Safety
Systematically identifying, collecting, and indexing these hundreds of thousands of missing samples will dramatically increase DNA database matches, solve cold cases, link serial crimes, prevent future victimization, and provide the evidence necessary to both apprehend active offenders and exonerate the wrongfully convicted. Just like the rape kit backlog, the LODNA crisis has a tremendous impact on our communities. Leaving lawfully owed DNA uncollected leaves dangerous offenders in our communities and cases unsolved, while victims wait for justice.
Our Response
To address this crisis, Joyful Heart Foundation is leading a new initiative that moves from comprehensive discovery to actionable policy creation. By combining a national legislative assessment with cross-sector practitioner input, we will establish the National Framework to End the LODNA Crisis, a set of actionable policy recommendations designed to drive legislative change and system-wide reform.