Appealing To The Legislature: A Comparative Analysis Of The Georgia Statutes Regarding Evidence Preservation And Access To Post-Conviction DNA Testing

DNA evidence testing is the leading cause of exonerations in criminal cases throughout the United States.2 Yet, without the preservation of evidence in these cases and the ability to subject this evidence to advancing technology in DNA testing, many claims of innocence go unheard and defendants remain incarcerated while the real perpetrators of crime go unpunished. As of September 2009, seven Georgia men have been exonerated by post-conviction DNA testing.3 Such exonerations should be considered victories for our criminal justice system: they free the innocent, correct miscarriages of justice that undermine public confidence in our criminal justice system, and allow the pursuit of the real perpetrators of heinous crimes to commence. ,4 The purpose of this paper is to offer a comparative analysis of Georgia\u27s current evidence preservation and post-conviction DNA testing statutes with a model policy offered by The Justice Project, a bi-partisan criminal justice reform organization