Cold Hits

DNA DATA BANK BY THE NUMBERS (California)

1.5 million Offender DNA Samples

31,307 Forensic Evidence Profiles

12,425 Matches

Sources: Federal Bureau of Investigation; and California Attorney General?s Office, as of April 30, 2010

This spring, California got its 12,000th "cold hit" through its DNA Data Bank, which averages 300 matches of forensic evidence with DNA profiles of suspects each month. California runs the fourth-largest genetic database in the world, thanks in part to the passage of a voter-approved proposition in 2009 that requires everyone arrested on a felony charge - regardless of whether they are convicted - to contribute a biological sample to the data bank. Nationally, the FBI's National DNA Index contains more than 8 million DNA samples taken from offenders and 311,560 forensic profiles gathered from crime scenes.

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