From the U.S. Government Accountability Office, www.gao.gov Transcript for: DNA Evidence Backlogs Description: How does the government help state and local labs deal with growing requests for crime scene DNA analysis? Related GAO Work: GAO-19-216: DNA Evidence: DOJ Should Improve Performance Measurement and Properly Design Controls for Nationwide Grant Program Released: March 2019 [ Background Music ] [ Gretta Goodwin : ] It's really important that the CEBR Program has measureable goals as well as controls related to conflicts of interest. [ Matt Oldham: ] Welcome to GAO's Watchdog Report, your source for news and information from the U.S. Government Accountability Office. I'm Matt Oldham. Between the years 2011 and 2017 there was growth in the number of requests for crime scene DNA analysis at state and local labs. And as those labs completed more requests each year, the backlog of requests also grew. I'm with Gretta Goodwin, a Homeland Security and Justice director at GAO and she led a report examining this DNA analysis backlog. Gretta, could this backlog of DNA testing have any effect on ongoing police work? [ Gretta Goodwin : ] So yes, larger backlogs mean that the police will take longer to get their lab results back for the cases that they're working on. And so those cases could be prolonged. This is also a concern because justice could be delayed because criminals are left free to reoffend while the police are waiting for the analysis to come back from the crime labs. So one of the things we do report is that the practitioners and the experts we spoke to during the course of the study, told us that the police tend to prioritize the more violent crime such as sexual assault or homicide ahead of the less violent crimes such as property. This prioritization could help prevent some of the backlog from having such a heavy effect on the most important cases that the police are working on. [ Matt Oldham: ] So what did you find about these backlogs? You mentioned sexual assault crimes and homicide. What sort of DNA are they collecting? What is it being used for? [ Gretta Goodwin : ] When we say backlogs for the purposes of the report, we're talking about DNA evidence taken from crime scenes and awaiting analysis and labs. That is different from inventories of unsubmitted DNA evidence. That evidence could be sitting in law enforcement custody could be on hospital shelves. That evidence has not been submitted to a lab, so it's not being analyzed. Typically when you hear backlogs and DNA evidence in the headlines, in the news, they're talking about that second one, the unsubmitted evidence because that tends to be the sexual assault kits that have not been submitted for analysis to the crime labs yet. The Department of Justice does have other programs in place to help address the issue of the unsubmitted evidence, in particular the unsubmitted sexual assault kits. [ Matt Oldham: ] So what role does the federal government play in all this? [ Gretta Goodwin : ] The part that the federal government plays in this really has to do with the grant funding that it provides state and local crime labs to help alleviate those backlogs. There are 194 state and local crime labs and three federal crime labs. And so the Department of Justice has a DNA Capacity Enhancement and Backlog Reduction program, otherwise known as CEBR. CEBR provides grant monies to the state and local crime labs to help alleviate their backlogs. So since 2011, the CEBR Program has awarded about $500 million to help state and local crime labs alleviate their backlogs. [ Matt Oldham: ] And did you find any issues with how CEBR is handling these backlogs? [ Gretta Goodwin : ] So when examining this program and the program's performance, we found that about one of six performance measures had a measurable target. GAO feels that in order to be able to determine how successful the program is, whether it's meeting the goals, we actually need to know what the goals are. And it would be very important to know what the targets are. And so we found that only one of six of those performance measures that were put forward were actually had a measurable target. [ Background Music ] [ Matt Oldham: ] So it sounds like DOJ through CEBR grants money to state and local levels to address logjams of crime scene DNA testing. But there are questions about how they measure how this program performs. So Gretta, what recommendations did your team have? [ Gretta Goodwin : ] So the recommendations we made focus on ensuring accountability and transparency in both the grant performance and the controls for this program. So we made four recommendations. Two of them focused on grant performance and two of them focused on the DOJ controls for the program. All of the recommendations we made are set in such a way to hold the agency accountable for the results, as well as help them determine whether the program is being successful and whether adjustments need to be made to ensure the success of the program. [ Matt Oldham: ] And lastly, what do you believe is the bottom line of this report? [ Gretta Goodwin : ] So it's really important that the CEBR program have measurable goals, as well as controls related to conflicts of interest and the lobbying requirements in order to ensure that one the program is able to be held accountable and that the program is successfully achieving exactly what it's intending to achieve. [ Matt Oldham: ] Gretta Goodwin is a Homeland Security and Justice director at GAO and she was talking about her report on the performance of a federal program to address a growing backlog of DNA evidence. Thank you for your time, Gretta. [ Gretta Goodwin : ] Thank you. [ Background Music ] [ Matt Oldham: ] And thank you for listening to the Watchdog Report. To hear more podcasts, subscribe to us on Apple Podcasts. [ Background Music ] [ Matt Oldham: ] For more from the congressional watchdog, the U.S. Government Accountability Office, visit us as gao.gov.