Thursday, February 03, 2005

Bush SOTU promises $$ for DNA testing

Thank heavens Jeralyn took on President Bush's phony-baloney State of the Union claptrap about funding DNA testing and capital defense training to prevent innocent people from being executed. (I was grumpy because I thought I'd have to delve into the egregious, federal "Justice for All" Act.) Bottom line:
If you add up the numbers, $755 million goes to test old rape kits looking for a perpetrator while $25 million is allotted to inmates with innocence claims for dna testing. Add to that another $500 million for crime labs, and you have over $1 billion for crime-fighting and victims and $25 million for inmates with innocence claims.
Like Jeralyn, I'm not ungrateful for the small mitzvah. Plus, some of that crime lab money shouldn't be seen as pro-prosecution, since in many cases crime labs falsely accused folks and the new money might help correct existing problems. But it sure grates to hear President Bush express concern for innocents on death row, since his own record as Texas governor shows he cared little about the subject when he had an opportunity to do something about it.

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