The IPA’s text creates the bizarre and unjust result that servicemembers convicted by courts-martial are less able to obtain DNA testing than other categories of prisoners, federal or state. See Kerry Abrams & Brandon L. Garrett, DNA and Distrust, 91 Notre Dame L. Rev. 757, 776 (2015) (“Today, all fifty states have enacted statutes providing access to DNA and post-conviction relief.”); Samuel R. Wiseman, Waiving Innocence, 96 Minn. L. Rev. 952, 954 (2012) (“DNA has provoked a small revolution in criminal procedure, causing almost every state legislature, as well as Congress, to rethink well-established notions . . . to allow for post-conviction testing and relief.” (footnotes omitted)). This disparity is entirely inconsistent with the respect usually given to veterans. I urge Congress to remedy this unfairness by amending the IPA to explicitly provide servicemembers convicted by courts-martial the same avenues for post-conviction DNA testing afforded to other prisoners.
Editor's Note: cc Senate and House Judiciary Committees
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