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California lawmakers are once again trying to expand the collection of DNA evidence in criminal cases, something they say has declined under Proposition 47, hurting cold rape and murder investigations.
The landmark ballot measure, which voters passed in 2014, reduced drug possession and some theft crimes to misdemeanors in a move to lower the jail and prison population across the state. But in doing so, law enforcement officials say, the list of felony cases from which police are required to gather DNA evidence has been narrowed, causing a drop in the state’s database of forensic samples.
Assemblyman Jim Cooper (D-Elk Grove) says he hopes to address that “unintended consequence” through the reintroduction of Assembly Bill 16, which would order investigators to gather swab samples, blood specimens, palm prints and fingerprints from offenders convicted of certain misdemeanors.
An identical iteration of the bill died last legislative session in the Senate Public Safety Committee amid opposition from privacy and civil rights advocates who found its provisions too far-reaching. But Cooper said it was a good proposal worth pitching again.
“What we want is to make sure that bad people who commit serious crimes are...