"New discoveries in science and technology have made it possible for families of victims to finally put an end to the suffering of not knowing who committed these violent crimes against their loved ones," Senators Snowe and Collins said in a joint statement. "It is extremely important for Maine's Department of Public Safety to receive funding toward this program and have the ability to finally put closure to the unsolved cases in our state."
The Solving Cold Cases with DNA Program was established to search, evaluate, select, and conduct DNA analysis on violent crime "cold cases" that have the potential to be solved through DNA testing. Experience has shown that such cold case review programs can solve a substantial number of homicides and rapes. Recent advances have improved the ability of analysis to successfully use DNA from biological evidence that is old, poor quality, or limited in quantity. These scientific advances have increased the likelihood of solving cases previously thought to be unsolved.
###