The Clarion-Ledger Editorial, 12/17/8
It’s past time to bring Mississippi criminal investigation into the modern era.
That’s no slam on the people working in the existing system, but it is a slam on the system. Mississippi has consistently failed to adequately fund the state’s crime lab, to fund a state medical examiner or to enact modern, proper laws for the handling of DNA evidence.
The Mississippi Crime Laboratory system consists of the main laboratory in Jackson and three regional laboratories located in Batesville, on the Gulf Coast, and at Meridian. The state’s crime lab provides forensic services to law enforcement agencies throughout the state.
Attorney General Jim Hood has been leading a task force studying ways to improve the state crime lab, state DNA laws and the state medical examiner’s position.
A report released by the panel last week recommended the state require the preservation of DNA evidence in all felony cases. It didn’t recommend that state law require law enforcement agencies to collect DNA, but that’s often done in felony cases.
Magnolia Tribune
