Administering Entity
Maine State Police Crime Laboratory
Recent / Pending Legislation
None beyond the above.
Arrestees: No. In 2011, the Legislature considered a bill to expand to felony arrestee testing in 2011, but it failed (LD 1143 (2011, died)). Not Booking Station Rapid Ready.
Convicted Offenders: Yes.
Qualifying Crimes:
Enumerated Offenses for Adults: Murder; a Class A, B or C crime; sexual abuse of a minor; unlawful sexual contact; visual sexual aggression against a child; sexual contact with a child under 14 years of age; solicitation of a child by a computer to commit a prohibited act; solicitation of a child to commit a prohibited act on or after October 1, 2012; or any lesser included offense of one of the above if the greater offense is initially charged.
Enumerated Offenses for Minors: juvenile crimes that, if committed by an adult, would constitute the following: murder; felony murder; manslaughter; aggravated assault; elevated aggravated assault; gross sexual assault; unlawful sexual contact; kidnapping; criminal restraint; burglary; robbery; arson; aggravated criminal mischief; or causing a catastrophe.
Time of Collection: The sample may be collected at any point during incarceration; where there is no incarceration, it may be taken at any time during period of probation. Court may include submitting to having a DNA sample taken as a condition of probation. If incarcerated prior to January 1, 1996, before release from the corrections system.
Expungement: By petition to the Superior Court, based on reversal or dismissal of the conviction or adjudication. justifying the collection of the DNA; Chief of the State Police must purge the record upon receipt of an expungement order and certified copy of the order reversing or dismissing conviction or adjudication.
Statutes / Case Law
5 M.R. S. § 1573. Responsibility for DNA Identification Record System; Procedural Compatibility with the FBI
25 M.R. S. § 1574. Biological Sample Required for DNA Analysis upon Conviction or Adjudication
25 M.R.S. § 1575. Procedure for collection of a biological sample for DNA analysis
25 M.R.S. § 1577. DNA records
State v. Hutchinson, 969 A.2d 923 (Me. 2009) (holding statute requiring persons convicted of serious crimes to provide DNA samples for DNA database does not constitute unreasonable search and seizure).
Legislative History
- S.P. 480 / L.D. 1304 (117th Legislature, 1st Regular Session) — PL 1995, c. 457, “An Act to Establish the DNA Data Base and Data Bank Act,” effective September 29, 1995. Enacted all of 25 MRSA chapter 194, §§ 1571–1578, creating the DNA data base and data bank under the Chief of the State Police with CODIS compatibility required and both facilities located at the Augusta crime lab. Section 1574 required a blood sample from persons convicted on or after January 1, 1996 of fourteen enumerated offenses — murder, felony murder, manslaughter, aggravated assault, gross sexual assault, sexual abuse of a minor, unlawful sexual contact, kidnapping, criminal restraint, burglary, robbery, arson, aggravated criminal mischief, and lesser included offenses — drawn upon intake to jail or prison, with pre-release collection for those already incarcerated and coverage of juveniles adjudicated for equivalent conduct at subsection 3. Section 1573(3) carried a funding contingency: the Chief was not required to collect or analyze samples unless adequate funding was available.
- S.P. 749 / L.D. 2027 (118th Legislature, 2nd Regular Session) — PL 1997, c. 608, “An Act to Ensure Collection of Essential Data by the Department of Public Safety,” an emergency act effective March 18, 1998. Carried both an emergency preamble and a mandate preamble requiring a two-thirds vote, on findings that the law needed clarity about who may draw samples and which offenses trigger collection. Repealed and replaced § 1574(1) with a court-order procedure — the sentencing court must order the sample drawn, with timing keyed to the start of imprisonment or probation, and the duty attachable as a probation condition. Expanded the § 1574(4) offense list to add elevated aggravated assault, rape, visual sexual aggression against a child, and sexual misconduct with a child under 14, and amended § 1573(1) to allow the data base at either the crime lab or State Police Headquarters while keeping the data bank at the crime lab.
- H.P. 1165 / L.D. 1565 (120th Legislature, 1st Regular Session) — PL 2001, c. 325, “An Act to Expand the Collection of DNA Samples from Convicted Offenders,” effective September 21, 2001. The major expansion: added a new subsection 5 reaching any Class A, B, or C crime for persons convicted on or after October 1, 2001, alongside murder, sexual abuse of a minor, unlawful sexual contact, visual sexual aggression against a child, sexual contact with a child under 14, and solicitation of a child by computer. Recast the former list as subsection 4, now limited to convictions after January 1, 1996 and before October 1, 2001, and conformed subsections 1 and 2 to the split. Section 3 of the act repealed subsection 3, eliminating the original juvenile coverage.
- H.P. 300 / L.D. 380 (121st Legislature, 1st Regular Session) — PL 2003, c. 393, “An Act To Protect Public Safety Using DNA Data of Juvenile Violent Offenders,” effective September 13, 2003. Restored juvenile coverage through a new subsection 3-A, reaching juveniles adjudicated on or after October 1, 2003 of conduct that would be an offense listed in a new subsection 6 — a dedicated fourteen-offense juvenile list ending with causing a catastrophe. Also modernized terminology throughout, redefining “DNA sample” at § 1572(6) from a blood sample to a biological sample, adding a definition of “juvenile” at § 1572(7-A), retitling § 1574 and § 1575 accordingly, and replacing “drawn” with “taken.” The shift off blood-only collection is the sleeper change in this act.
- S.P. 572 / L.D. 1673 (125th Legislature, 2nd Regular Session) — PL 2011, c. 597, “An Act To Prohibit the Sexual Solicitation of a Child by any Means,” an emergency act signed April 6, 2012. Primarily a criminal-law bill closing a loophole in the solicitation statute, it amended § 1574(5) at Section 5 to add paragraph G-1, “Solicitation of a child to commit a prohibited act on or after October 1, 2012,” alongside the existing computer-solicitation paragraph. The new trigger applies prospectively to conduct on or after October 1, 2012 rather than on the act’s effective date.
No program or law found.
No program or law found.
Legislation introduced in 2023 (died in 2024) – ME LD 838 – would have required the Chief Medical Examiner to use FGG testing of UHR after 45 days of having possession of UHR.
No program or law found.
No program or law found.