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Alaska Statutes.

Title 44. State Government

Chapter 41. Department of Public Safety

Section 35. Dna Identification System.

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AS 44.41.035. Dna Identification System.

(a) To support criminal justice services in this state, the Department of Public Safety shall establish a deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) identification registration system.

(b) The Department of Public Safety shall collect for inclusion into the DNA registration system a blood sample, oral sample, or both, from (1) a person convicted in this state of a crime against a person or a felony under AS 11 or AS 28.35 or a law or ordinance with elements similar to a crime against a person or a felony under AS 11 or AS 28.35, (2) a minor 16 years of age or older, adjudicated as a delinquent in this state for an act that would be a crime against a person or a felony under AS 11 or AS 28.35 if committed by an adult or for an act that would violate a law or ordinance with elements similar to a crime against a person or a felony under AS 11 or AS 28.35 if committed by an adult, (3) a voluntary donor, (4) an anonymous DNA donor for use in forensic validation, forensic protocol development, quality control, or population or statistical data bases, (5) a person required to register as a sex offender or child kidnapper under AS 12.63, and (6) a person arrested for a crime against a person or a felony under AS 11 or AS 28.35, or a law or ordinance with elements similar to a crime against a person or a felony under AS 11 or AS 28.35. The department also may collect for inclusion into the DNA registration system a blood sample, oral sample, or tissue sample from crime scene evidence or from unidentified human remains. The DNA identification registration system consists of the blood, oral, or tissue samples drawn under this section, any DNA or other blood grouping tests done on those samples, and the identification data related to the samples or tests. Blood samples, oral samples, and tissue samples not subject to testing under this section, and test or identification data related to those samples, may not be entered into, or made a part of, the DNA identification registration system.

(c) The Department of Public Safety may

(1) analyze DNA for law enforcement agencies; and

(2) assist law enforcement officials and prosecutors in the preparation and use of DNA evidence for presentation in court.

(d) Except as provided in (e) of this section, a local law enforcement agency may not establish or operate a DNA identification registration system unless

(1) the equipment and the DNA typing method of the local system are compatible with that of the state system under (a) of this section;

(2) the local system is equipped to receive and answer inquiries from the department's DNA identification registration system and transmit data to the department's DNA identification registration system; and

(3) procedure and rules for the collection, analysis, storage, expungement, and use of DNA identification data do not conflict with this section and procedures and rules applicable to the department's DNA identification registration system.

(e) Nothing in (d) of this section prohibits a local law enforcement agency from performing DNA identification analysis in individual cases to assist law enforcement officials and prosecutors in the preparation and use of DNA evidence for presentation in court.

(f) The DNA identification registration system is confidential, is not a public record under AS 40.25.110 - 40.25.140, and may be used only for

(1) providing DNA or other blood grouping tests for identification analysis;

(2) criminal investigations, prosecutions, and identification of human remains;

(3) statistical blind analysis;

(4) improving the operation of the system; or

(5) exoneration of the innocent.

(g) A person from whom a sample has been collected under this section may inspect and obtain a copy of the identification data regarding the person contained within the DNA identification registration system.

(h) The Department of Public Safety shall adopt reasonable procedures

(1) for the collection, analysis, storage, expungement, and use of the DNA identification registration system; and

(2) to protect the DNA identification registration system established under this section from unauthorized access and from accidental or deliberate damage by theft, sabotage, fire, flood, wind, or power failure.

(i) The Department of Public Safety shall, upon receipt of a court order, destroy the material in the system relating to a person. The court shall issue the order if the person's or minor's DNA was included in the system under

(1) (b)(1) or (2) of this section and the court determines that

(A) the conviction or adjudication that subjected the person to having a sample taken under this section is reversed; and

(B) the person

(i) is not retried, readjudicated, or convicted or adjudicated for another crime that requires having a sample taken under this section; or

(ii) after retrial, is acquitted of the crime or after readjudication for the crime is not found to be a delinquent, and is not convicted or adjudicated for another crime that requires a sample under this section;

(2) (b)(6) of this section and the court determines that

(A) the person arrested was released without being charged; or

(B) the criminal complaint, indictment, presentment, or information for the offense for which the person was arrested was dismissed, and a criminal complaint, indictment, presentment, or information for an offense requiring submission of a DNA sample is not refiled.

(j) The Department of Public Safety may adopt regulations to carry out the purposes of this section.

(k) The provisions of this section apply to a person from another state that this state has accepted under any interstate corrections or probation agreement or compact, regardless of whether the person is confined or released, if the person was convicted of an offense that is similar to an offense described in (b) of this section.

(l) The Department of Public Safety may not include in the DNA registration system a blood sample, oral sample, or tissue sample of the victim of a crime, unless that person would otherwise be included under (b)(1) - (5) of this section.

(m) The commissioner of public safety shall notify the president of the senate and the speaker of the house of representatives if, at any time after July 1, 2003, the federal government fails to pay the costs of the DNA identification registration system.

(n) A juvenile or adult correctional, probation, or parole officer or a peace officer may use reasonable force to collect an oral sample for inclusion into the DNA registration system from a person required to submit to collection of a sample under this section, AS 12.55.015(h), 12.55.100(d), AS 33.16.150 (a), or another law.

(o) A person may not bring a civil action against the state or a municipality, or their employees or agents, for actions arising out of DNA collection in conformity with this section.

(p) [Effective July 1, 2009]. The department shall make every reasonable effort to process each sample collected from a person under (b)(1), (b)(2), (b)(5), and (b)(6) of this section and include the identification data resulting from the testing of the sample in the identification registration system within 90 days after receiving the sample.

(q) In this section,

(1) "convicted" means that an adult, or a juvenile charged as an adult under AS 47.12 or a similar procedure in another jurisdiction, has entered a plea of guilty, guilty but mentally ill, or nolo contendere, or has been found guilty, or guilty but mentally ill, by a court or jury, regardless of whether the judgment was set aside under AS 12.55.085 or a similar procedure in another jurisdiction or was the subject of a pardon or other executive clemency; a person is not "convicted" if the judgment against the person was reversed or vacated by a court;

(2) "crime against a person" means an offense, or an attempt or solicitation to commit an offense, under AS 11.41;

(3) "oral sample" means a sample taken from the mouth of a person that consists of saliva or tissue, or both, as is determined by the Department of Public Safety to be necessary to obtain an accurate DNA identification and to otherwise achieve the purposes of this section.