Few Inmates Accept Free DNA Testing
Fri Jul 5, 4:13 PM ET

TRENTON, N.J. (AP) - Fewer than a dozen inmates responded to New Jersey's year-old offer of free DNA testing to help challenge their convictions, and not one has been cleared.

As a result, New Jersey has largely abandoned the so-called Truth Project in favor of a stricter program, to begin next week, that will charge prisoners for testing.

Most of the prisoners who did apply for the Truth Project were rejected because they had admitted guilt, said Assistant Public Defender Dale Jones, whose office teamed with the attorney general's office to represent qualified inmates.

One man who was approved died before definitive findings could be obtained.

State officials announced the project with much fanfare a year ago, but they never told inmates about it directly, apparently relying on news reports, lawyers and relatives to spread the news. But even if there had been a better response, recovering evidence with DNA from old cases was a problem.

"The response was minimal at best," Jones told The Star-Ledger of Newark for Friday's editions. "They'd already conceded they did the act, so DNA testing wouldn't have helped them."

Former state Attorney General John Farmer ( news, bio, voting record) said he expected more prisoners to step forward, but said the fact they didn't suggested the criminal justice system was working well — putting the guilty behind bars.

Inmates may also have been reluctant to offer their DNA for fear it could link them to other offenses, he said.

Recovering old evidence to compare against DNA is often a "huge problem," said Aliza Kaplan, deputy director of the Innocence Project, a group at the Cardozo School of Law at New York's Yeshiva University that has used DNA testing to free more than 100 inmates nationwide.