American Samoa

• No recent or pending legislation.

American Samoa does not have a traditional DNA database program. The only DNA mandate is in the sex offender registry — A.S.C.A. § 46.2908(c), added by PL 33-18 (2014) — requiring a covered sex offender whose DNA is not already in CODIS to give the Attorney General’s Office or designee a sample, which “shall be submitted directly to the FBI for submission in CODIS.” No custodian, no territorial laboratory, no quality-assurance regime, no confidentiality or disclosure penalties, no expungement procedure, and no DNA admissibility statute (admissibility runs through Daubert per Am. Samoa Gov’t v. Tuaolo, CR No. 30-98 (High Ct., Trial Div., Jan. 31, 2000)).

Arrestees: None. No arrest-stage collection of any kind. Registration — and with it the DNA sample — attaches only on conviction of a covered sex offense (§ 46.2903), so a person merely charged provides nothing.

Convicted Offenders: None. No all-felony or violent-crime convicted-offender mandate.

Qualifying Crimes: The sole trigger is conviction of a covered sex offense under § 46.2903, and even then the sample is conditional — it is required only if the offender is not already in CODIS.

Time of Collection: Collection is tied to registration timing under § 46.2912: before release if incarcerated, within 3 business days of sentencing if not, or within 3 business days of establishing residence, employment, or school attendance for out-of-jurisdiction convictions. Refusal is not separately penalized; it falls under § 46.2920(a) as failure to register, a class D felony, and there is no reasonable-force authority.

Statutes/Case Law

• A.S.C.A. §§ 46.2903, 46.2908(c), 46.2912, 46.2920(a)
• Am. Samoa Gov’t v. Tuaolo, CR No. 30-98 (High Ct., Trial Div., Jan. 31, 2000).

Legislative History

• 26th Leg. 1999 — Public Law No. 26-7, creating A.S.C.A. Title 46, Chapter 28, “Registration of Offenders.” Required persons convicted of enumerated sex and child offenses to provide “fingerprint, photograph, and any requested body fluids” to the DPS corrections division warden, who maintained the registry and transmitted records to the FBI’s National Sex Offender Registry. Wetterling-era in structure, with no DNA analysis, no CODIS, and no laboratory named; repealed in 2014.
• B. No. 33-31 (33rd Leg., 4th Reg. Sess. 2014) — Public Law No. 33-18, “An Act implementing the minimum standards of the federal Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act; repealing Chapter 28 Title 46 in its entirety; and replacing it with a new Chapter 29 in Title 46 A.S.C.A.” (approved by Gov. Lolo Matalasi Moliga Oct. 15, 2014; effective 60 days after the end of session per Sec. 3 and Art. II, § 19, Rev. Const.). Created §§ 46.2901–46.2921, moving the registry to the Attorney General’s Office and adopting SORNA tiering, verification schedules, retroactive recapture, and NCIC/NSOR reporting. § 46.2908(c) is the territory’s only DNA mandate — a registrant not already in CODIS must give the Attorney General’s Office or designee a sample, and “[a]ny DNA sample obtained from the sex offender shall be submitted directly to the FBI for submission in CODIS” — the only territorial statute of the four that names the receiving laboratory; § 46.2920(a) makes failure to register a class D felony.
• B. No. 35-12 (35th Leg., 2nd Reg. Sess. 2017) — Public Law No. 35-4, “An Act amending the American Samoa Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act; allowing American Samoa to be in substantial compliance with the requirements of SORNA, and allowing for the continued monitoring of Tier II offenders; amending section 46.2909 A.S.C.A.” (approved Oct. 10, 2017; effective 60 days after end of session). Struck “or Tier II” from § 46.2909(b)(1), eliminating the 10-year reduction for Tier II offenders because SORNA permits none at that tier. No DNA effect, but this is the amendment the SMART Office folded into its review.

No law or program identified.

No law or program identified.

No law or program identified.

No law or program identified.