Do all states require the preservation of crime scene evidence?
Approximately half of the states have created legislation that compels the automatic preservation of evidence upon conviction of a defendant. However, most of these laws are limited in a variety of ways. Many state statutes restrict both the timeframes for required retention and the crime categories for which evidence must be preserved. Other statutes only require the retention of evidence upon the effective date of their passage, legally allowing states to destroy old evidence attached to either innocence claims or old, unsolved cases. Still other states only mandate the preservation of evidence upon petition for re-testing of evidence. As a result, large quantities of evidence are destroyed in the window of time between conviction and petition, to make way for incoming evidence in the face of storage space concerns. Key Facts: • Requirements around the preservation of evidence are usually embedded in DNA testing access statutes. • In 2004, Congress passed the Justice for All Act (H.R
