Abstract
This study assessed the effectiveness of the DNA Identification Act by examining whether 106 predatory sexual murderers and 85 predatory sexual assaulters had earlier convictions for offences that require offenders to provide a DNA profile to the National DNA Data Bank (NDDB). Offenders' criminal records were checked for convictions of primary and secondary designated offences, as stipulated by the act, and of non-designated offences that occurred prior to the murder or assault. A majority of the murderers (68%) and assaulters (59%) had no primary designated offence convictions; 50% of the murderers and 37% of the assaulters had no secondary designated offence convictions; and 39% of the murderers and 28% of the assaulters had no prior convictions for any designated offence. Overall, the largest number of prior convictions was for non-designated offences and the smallest for primary designated offences. Previous convictions for theft (non-designated) and breaking and entering (secondary) were most prevalent among the murderers and assaulters. Results suggest that the effectiveness of the NDDB for the identification of sexual predators may be improved by requiring mandatory provision of DNA samples following convictions for some non-designated and secondary designated offences.
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