PrimeTime: Using DNA Evidence

March 22 -- Kenneth Waters would not have been exonerated last week after 18 years behind bars were it not for DNA testing.

This relatively new technology has resulted in the post-conviction exoneration of 85 people since 1992. Defense Attorney Barry Scheck was involved with Waters' release and is co-director of the Innocence Project at Cardozo Law School in New York, which assists inmates who are challenging their convictions based on DNA testing of evidence.

Q: What was your role in the Waters case?A: Betty Anne contacted us in 1996 or 1997 because we have a project that uses DNA evidence to prove that people are wrongfully convicted. It was an especially compelling case because of her passion and belief in his innocence. We worked with her to get Kenneth out of jail, but Betty Anne did it.

Q: Why did you start the Innocence Project?A: I started it with Peter Neufeld in 1992 because we had developed some expertise in DNA testing and we knew this technology had the potential to exonerate the wrongfully convicted as well as identify who really committed a crime.

Q: What kinds of laws regarding DNA profiles exist?A: Laws require samples to be taken from convicted offenders and put into a databank. But one of the problems is that not enough unsolved crime DNA profiles are being put into a databank. Law enforcement just isn't doing it. One of the things I did was ask [New York] Police Commissioner Howard Safir to do DNA testing on 25,000 rape kits from unsolved crimes. They were going to throw them away. There are hundreds of thousands of rape kits which contain evidence not being tested. It's happening all across the country.

Q: What kind of far-reaching impact can the use of DNA evidence have on the justice system?A: DNA exonerations are creating public pressure to institute serious reform. It's a growing civil rights movement in America. But DNA is not a panacea. The real value is what it will help us understand about the strengths and weaknesses of the criminal justice system. It will help us understand what leads to wrongful convictions as well as solutions that will minimize terrible miscarriages of justice.