Every criminal that the United States fails to convict on first offence goes on to commit, on average, an additional six crimes. It's a chilling thought, and it sits at the heart of one of the most pressing issues to face forensic science today; the DNA backlog.

The scale of the backlog problem has reached frightening proportions, with the latest Bureau of Justice Statistics indicating a 73% increase in case work, and a resulting 135% increase in case work backlogs, between 1997 and 2000 alone. And we're not talking petty crime either, with many of the unanalyzed DNA samples relating to sexual assault and murder cases. So what's at the root of it all?

The DNA backlog is currently affected by two key areas: case work sample backlogs from crime scenes, victims, and suspects, and convicted offender backlogs, from existing offenders that are either incarcerated or under supervision. Backlogs across both areas are growing substantially but without a related growth and expansion of forensic laboratories, the USA has been unable to cope.

AN EXPANDING PROBLEM
As crime rates increase, this is an issue that is unlikely to dissipate, and potential legislation such as California's Proposition 69 will only magnify the problem.

Set to come into effect as of January 2009, the proposition will present the criminal justice system with the added pressure of DNA samples from arrestees, as well as convicted criminals. In short, the United States finds itself in a ‘Catch-22’ situation: on the one hand, the more DNA samples collected the more potential to solve crimes; on the other hand, the more samples collected, the more the backlog will grow. The U.S. is not alone in this challenge. The DNA backlog is increasingly becoming a global issue, with DNA centers in Australia also suffering serious backlogs.