– Secure DC Omnibus Amendment Act of 2024, D.C. Law 25‑175, § 27, eff. June 8, 2024, which added § 22‑4152 (pre‑conviction collection) and § 22‑4153 (convicted offenders).
Arrestees: Yes, collection may occur upon charging.
Arrestee/pre-conviction — § 22-4152, added by the Secure DC Omnibus Amendment Act of 2024 (D.C. Law 25-175, eff. June 8, 2024). The federal mandatory collection scheme for D.C. offenders (34 U.S.C. § 40703) is conviction-based and never reaches charged defendants, so § 22-4152 is the only authority for pre-conviction collection.
Qualifying Crimes: Permissive (“the Mayor may”), reaching anyone charged by information, complaint, or indictment with a crime of violence (§ 23-1331(4)), a dangerous crime (§ 23-1331(3)), or the § 22-4151(a)(3)–(7) sex offenses. Collection may be limited to persons fingerprinted;
Time of Collection: No collection, analysis, or CODIS entry before a judicial probable cause finding.
Who Collects: The Mayor (in practice MPD or a designated agency), or the court if the individual appears without a sample having been collected; collection is discretionary. Samples must be furnished to the FBI Laboratory or an FBI-approved lab for analysis and CODIS entry.
Expungement: Automatic destruction/expungement on non-conviction, reversal/vacatur without retrial, or unconditional pardon.
Convicted Offenders: Yes — via two tracks.
The mandatory track is federal: under 34 U.S.C. § 40703, the Bureau of Prisons must collect from D.C. Code offenders in its custody (D.C. felons serve their sentences in BOP facilities), and the Court Services and Offender Supervision Agency (CSOSA) must collect from D.C. offenders on parole, probation, or supervised release. That duty triggers automatically upon conviction of an offense D.C. has designated as qualifying under § 22-4151 — no mayoral or District action is involved — and refusal is a federal class A misdemeanor. The discretionary track is local: since June 2024, § 22-4153 lets any District agency also collect from convicted offenders (“may,” not “shall”), with § 22-4153(a)(3) providing that a District agency need not collect where BOP or CSOSA has collected or will, or where the person is already in CODIS. Under both tracks, samples go to the FBI for analysis and CODIS entry — the District analyzes nothing and maintains no offender database of its own.
Qualifying Crimes: Any offense set forth in § 22-4151(a) (see Statutes/Case Law below).
Statutes/Case Law
- Code of the District of Columbia. Chapter 41B. DNA Sample Collection; 34 U.S.C. § 40703 (federal collection duties — BOP and CSOSA — for D.C. offenders)
- 22-4151 “The following criminal offenses shall be qualifying offenses for the purposes of DNA collection . . . (1) Any felony; (2) Any offense for which the penalty is greater than one year imprisonment; (3) (lewd, indecent, or obscene acts (knowingly in the presence of a child under the age of 16 years)); (4) (certain obscene activities involving minors); (5) (sexual performances using minors); (6) (misdemeanor sexual abuse); (7) misdemeanor sexual abuse of a child or minor); and (8) attempt or conspiracy to commit any of the offenses listed.”
- 22-4152. “(a)(1) The Mayor may collect a DNA sample from each individual who has been charged by information, complaint, or indictment for: (A) A crime of violence. (B) a dangerous crime; (C) [certain enumerated offenses]; (D) and attempt or conspiracy to commit any of the offenses listed.”
- 22–4153. Collection of DNA identification information from convicted offenders.
- (a)(1) A District agency may collect a DNA sample from an individual who is, or has been, convicted of an offense set forth in § 22-4151(a).
- (2) A District agency or the court, as applicable, may authorize, or enter into agreements with, other local, state, or federal governmental agencies or private entities to collect DNA samples under this section.
- (3) An agency or entity may, but need not, collect a DNA sample from an individual if:
- (A) Another agency or entity has collected, or will collect, a DNA sample from that individual and has provided, or will provide, the sample for analysis and inclusion of the results in CODIS as provided in subsection (b) of this section; or
- (B) CODIS already contains a DNA analysis with respect to that individual.
- (4) DNA sample collection may be repeated if the agency or entity responsible for collection is informed that a sample collected from the individual does not satisfy the requirements for analysis or for entry of the results of the analysis into CODIS.
- (b) The agency or entity, as applicable, shall furnish each DNA sample collected under this section to the Federal Bureau of Investigation Laboratory, or to another laboratory approved by the FBI, for the purpose of carrying out a DNA analysis on each such DNA sample and including the results in CODIS. The requirements of this subsection may be waived, with the permission of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, if DNA samples are analyzed by means of Rapid DNA instruments and the results are included in CODIS.
- (c) The authorization of DNA sample collection by this section shall not limit DNA sample collection by any agency pursuant to any other authority.
- (d) For the purposes of this section, the terms “DNA sample”, “DNA analysis”, and “Rapid DNA instruments” shall have the same meaning as provided in 34 U.S.C. § 40703(c).
- (a)(1) A District agency may collect a DNA sample from an individual who is, or has been, convicted of an offense set forth in § 22-4151(a).
Legislative History
In the District of Columbia, if a bill passes two readings, the Mayor signs it and it becomes a D.C. Act, Congress gets a review window (60 days for criminal legislation), and only then does it become a D.C. Law. That’s why every act below takes effect months after it was signed — and why the Council often passes the same text as a 90‑day emergency act to cover the gap. Each of those emergencies is its own instrument.
- B14‑63 (2001) → C. Law 14‑52 (D.C. Act 14‑76; 48 DCR 5934; signed June 15, 2001; effective Nov. 3, 2001). The DNA Sample Collection Act of 2001, D.C.’s founding DNA law. It does one thing: list 46 categories of offenses whose convicted offenders must give a DNA sample for the FBI’s CODIS database — arson, murder, kidnapping, robbery, carjacking, the sexual‑abuse offenses, and attempt or conspiracy to commit any of them. What it does not do matters more: it creates no collection agency, no District database, no testing requirement, no expungement, and no penalty. D.C. simply named the offenses and let the federal DNA Analysis Backlog Elimination Act of 2000 supply everything else — which is why the District has never run a DNA database of its own. There is no familial‑search ban in the original.
- C. Act 14‑77 (June 18, 2001). A 90‑day emergency version of the founding act, passed three days after the permanent one was signed, to cover the congressional review gap.
- B14‑216 (2001) → C. Law 14‑42 (D.C. Act 14‑107; 48 DCR 7612; effective Oct. 26, 2001). A technical corrections bill that made a real change: § 22 narrowed one listed offense, misdemeanor sexual abuse, to cases “where the offense is committed against a minor” — shrinking who gets swabbed. It took effect eight days before the law it amends, because technical bills get a 30‑day congressional review while criminal bills get 60. The amendment is written against the act(D.C. Act 14‑76), not the law, since the law didn’t exist yet.
- B14‑373 (2002) → C. Law 14‑194 (D.C. Act 14‑380; 49 DCR 5306; effective Oct. 17, 2002). The Omnibus Anti‑Terrorism Act of 2002. Section 158 added three new qualifying offenses created by the same act: acts of terrorism, and manufacturing/possessing or using a weapon of mass destruction (now §§ 22‑3152, 22‑3154, 22‑3155). The 2009 rewrite deleted them, so they appear in no current version of the statute.
- B18‑151 (2009) → C. Law 18‑88 (D.C. Act 18‑189; 56 DCR 7413; effective Dec. 10, 2009). The most consequential amendment in the chain. Section 218 threw out the 46‑item list and replaced it with a category: any felony, plus any offense carrying more than a year in prison, plus five named misdemeanor sex offenses, plus attempt and conspiracy. That is a large expansion — and it quietly undid the 2001 narrowing, putting misdemeanor sexual abuse back without the minor‑victim limit. The same section added the District’s ban on familial searching: D.C.‑collected DNA “shall not be searched for the purpose of identifying a family member” of the person it came from. That ban is one of the few outright statutory prohibitions in the country, and it arrived in the same breath as the biggest expansion. The bill’s title advertised only the felony expansion — the search ban isn’t mentioned in it.
- B25‑735 (2024) → C. Act 25‑410 (Mar. 11, 2024; 71 DCR 2693). A 90‑day emergency carrying the same DNA text as the permanent Secure DC act below, at its § 22.
- B25‑345 (2023–24) → C. Law 25‑175 (D.C. Act 25‑411; 71 DCR 2732; signed Mar. 11, 2024; effective June 8, 2024). The Secure DC Omnibus Amendment Act of 2024. For 23 years D.C. had a list of qualifying offenses but no law authorizing anyone to actually take a sample. Section 27 fixed that, adding two sections: § 22‑4152 lets the Mayor collect from people charged with violent or dangerous crimes or the listed sex offenses — the District’s first pre‑conviction collection — and § 22‑4153 covers people already convicted. Both are permissive (“may”), and both route samples to the FBI’s lab, confirming D.C. still has no database of its own. Two guardrails on the pre‑conviction side: nothing may be collected, analyzed, or entered into CODIS until a judge finds probable cause, and samples are destroyed and expunged automatically if the case ends without conviction, is reversed, or is pardoned. The convicted‑offender section has no such expungement. Both sections also let the FBI‑lab requirement be waived for Rapid DNA analysis — the only Rapid DNA language in D.C. law. Unlike many provisions in the same omnibus, § 27 was not made contingent on funding, so it took effect fully on day one.
- B25‑823 (2024) → C. Act 25‑490 (June 7, 2024; 71 DCR 7006). A second 90‑day emergency passed the day before the permanent law took effect, to cover the last of the congressional review. Same DNA text at its § 22.
No standalone Rapid DNA statute or program. However, D.C. wrote it directly into the collection statutes. §§ 22‑4152(b) and 22‑4153(b) both allow the FBI‑lab routing requirement to be waived, with FBI permission, if samples are analyzed by Rapid DNA instruments and results are included in CODIS, with definitions incorporated from 34 U.S.C. § 40703(c). Paired with the arrestee authority and the probable‑cause trigger, that’s a comparatively Rapid‑DNA‑friendly framework as of 2024.
Nothing in D.C. law establishes booking‑station Rapid DNA, sets accreditation or quality standards, specifies who may operate an instrument, or appropriates a dollar. And there’s a real constraint on the classic use case: § 22‑4152(b) bars any collection, analysis, or CODIS entry from a charged defendant before a judicial officer makes a probable cause finding — which is generally after booking. Rapid DNA’s speed advantage at intake is largely neutralized for arrestees.
No program or law identified. However, as an adjacent matter, D.C. law does prohibit the use of familial searching.
§ 22‑4151(b): “DNA collected by an agency of the District of Columbia shall not be searched for the purpose of identifying a family member related to the individual from whom the DNA sample was acquired.”
No program or law identified.
No program or law identified.