http://www.namus.gov/The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System, NamUs, is the first national online repository for missing persons records and unidentified
decedent cases. It was launched in July 2007 by the Office of Justice Program’s National Institute of Justice.
NamUs is made up of two databases: (1) records of unidentified decedents (select "Unidentified Decedents”) and (2) missing persons reports (select “Missing Persons”).
Currently, the unidentified decedents database is searchable and available for medical examiners and coroners to upload their cases. The search capability of the missing persons database is in development; the site currently provides resources on State clearinghouses, medical examiners and coroners, law enforcement, victim assistance resources, and legislation.
In 2009, the two databases will be linked. Families, law enforcement agencies, medical examiners and coroners, victim advocates, and the general public will be able to search for matches between missing persons and unidentified decedent records.
The President's DNA Initiative—Advancing Justice Through DNA Technology
DNA technology is increasingly vital to ensuring accuracy and fairness in the criminal justice system. DNA can be used to identify criminals with incredible accuracy when biological evidence exists, and DNA can be used to clear suspects, exonerate persons mistakenly accused or convicted of crimes, and solve missing persons and unidentified human remains cases.
To increase the use of DNA technology in the criminal justice system, the President announced a 5-year, more than $1 billion initiative to improve the use of DNA in the criminal justice system on March 11, 2003. The Initiative calls for increased funding, training, and assistance—to Federal, State, and local forensic labs; to police; to medical professionals; to victim service providers; and to prosecutors, defense lawyers, and judges—to ensure that this technology reaches its full potential to solve crimes, protect the innocent, and identify missing persons. This Initiative—Advancing Justice Through DNA Technology—has the following goals:
Eliminate the current backlog of unanalyzed DNA samples and biological evidence for the most serious violent offenses—rapes, murders, and kidnappings—and for convicted offender samples needing testing.
Improve crime laboratories' capacities to analyze DNA samples in a timely fashion.
Stimulate research and develop new DNA technologies and advances in all forensic sciences areas.
Develop training and provide assistance about the collection and use of DNA evidence to a wide variety of criminal justice professionals.
Provide access to appropriate postconviction DNA testing of crime scene evidence not tested at the time of trial.
Ensure that DNA forensic technology is used to its full potential to solve missing persons cases and identify human remains.
Protect the innocent.
The President's DNA Initiative will help ensure that DNA forensic technology is used to its full potential to identify missing persons by providing:
Funding for Crime Laboratories
DNA Projects Target Missing Persons Cases—Reprinted from The CJIS Link (Vol. 9, No. 3, October 2006), the newsletter of the FBI’s Criminal Justice Information Services Division.
National Criminal Justice Reference Service (NCJRS)
Fri Sep 18, 2009 6:17 am