Dallas County Conviction Integrity Unit – Post Conviction Testing of DNA Evidence

Under this program, BJA provides funding to help defray the costs associated with postconviction DNA testing for violent felony offenses (as defined by state law) in which actual innocence might be demonstrated.

This project focuses on intensifying efforts to provide specialized, high-quality, and groundbreaking use of DNA technology. The project intends to continue strengthening the well-established standing of this Conviction Integrity Unit by testing previously untested evidence held in Dallas County’s local laboratory, the Southwestern Institute of Forensic Sciences. This project will advance the processing and analysis of this evidence for identification purposes, decrease the backlog of this untested evidence, and close cases. The general goals and objectives for this grant project are to identify as many cases as possible that would benefit from postconviction DNA testing where the convicted individual’s actual innocence (or guilt) could be determined through biological evidence.

CA/NCF