The sentence of 27 years and six months in prison that the murderer of Lola Chomnalez received was possible due to the extensive DNA record that Uruguay has, which includes any person deprived of liberty in its territory. Eight years passed from the crime in the Barras de Valizas spa, committed on December 28, 2014, until the identification through a study of genetic fingerprints of the murderer, Leonardo David Sena, finally sentenced yesterday. The resolution of the case came when one of his direct relatives was arrested for another crime and the entry of his sample into the data bank raised the alarm about coincidences with the blood found in the belongings of the Argentine teenager. The investigation, which had been a disaster in its first stage, managed to focus on a suspect. In our country, an investigation of these characteristics is impossible. And that is what Minister Patricia Bullrich wants to modify with the bill that was sent this week to Congress.
With this parliamentary initiative, the Government tries to achieve the expansion of the National Registry of Genetic Data, which in Argentina is made up only of samples of people convicted of sexual assaults. The project that bears the signatures of president Javier Milei, he Chief of Staff, Nicolás Posse, and the ministers Bullrich and Mariano Cúneo Libarona proposes expanding this database to all people prosecuted for any type of crime.
This modification was considered by the national authorities as a milestone, which “will constitute a true revolution in criminal identification, as was the fingerprint identification designed by the Argentine Juan Vucetich in September 1891,” according to a press release. .
The proposal that the Casa Rosada put for the consideration of legislators aims to reform law 26,879, promulgated in July 2013. That law created the national DNA registry, but in its articles it limits its application to the collection of samples from people who have a signed conviction for cases of sexual assault. This restriction had taken into account that the spirit of that law was to have identification tools for a specific crime, with a high level of recidivism, or rather repetition, in accordance with the concept that the Ministry of Security seeks to incorporate in a project. to close the so-called “revolving door” that benefits criminals who remain at large despite having several open proceedings against them.
The vision proposed in the new official initiative is different. The text details the scope of the database, since it establishes that “the registry will store and systematize genetic fingerprints associated with evidence that has been obtained in the course of a judicial investigation and that is not linked to a person already judicially identified as accused.
“The data – it was clarified – will be removed when the accused person is separated from the investigation through a judicial resolution that acquires certainty of res judicata; genetic fingerprints of crime victims obtained at the crime scene, through a judicial investigation, provided that the victim had not opposed their incorporation. Genetic fingerprints may be removed from the registry at the request of the victim, at any time.”
The fundamental change is foreseen in another of the points that indicates the way of entering DNA samples into the database, since it is indicated that “genetic fingerprints of a person accused, prosecuted or convicted in a judicial process or fingerprints” will be incorporated. that are found associated with their identification, as well as the genetic fingerprints of minors under 18 years of age, whose criminal responsibility has been judicially declared, and of those people who were not convicted for mediating a cause of criminal non-imputability.
People searches
Beyond the investigations seeking to establish responsibility for a crime, the expansion of the DNA registry is promoted as a way to have new tools in searches for missing persons, indicating among the foundations of the bill that our country continues Open investigations to find the whereabouts of some 6,000 people who in recent years were reported missing.
Along these lines, it is established that “genetic fingerprints of corpses or unidentified human remains, or biological material presumably coming from missing people, and genetic fingerprints of people who, having a missing or lost relative, agree to voluntarily provide a biological sample that “may be useful for the genetic identification of the person being searched.”
Another additional entry of DNA samples will come with the obligation that will reach “the personnel belonging to the federal police and security forces, officials and employees of the Judicial Branch who intervene in criminal investigations.”
The genetic profile of any person who voluntarily agrees to provide a sample may also be added. It is an open possibility, even though the controversy over this type of record is based on the position of opponents, who maintain the need to keep DNA fingerprints within the scope of privacy. However, companies carry out massive iris data collection campaigns in which thousands of citizens deliver in exchange for cryptocurrencies. Hundreds of private companies also store biometric records used as simple access keys to workplaces. And the fingerprints of the entire population are compulsorily registered without anyone discussing the privacy of that personal brand. The debate that arises now is the updating of criminal investigation tools.
The Bullrich project takes as a precedent the work carried out in this field by the province of Mendoza. That Cuyo district is the only one in our country that systematized a genetic database since the approval of a specific law, which allowed storing DNA of “personnel of the Judiciary, Forensic Medical Corps, Scientific Police, Mendoza Police, accused, convicted, individuals at liberty within special and voluntary regimes,” as explained by the Public Prosecutor’s Office of that province when presenting the tasks developed by the judicial genetic laboratory.
One of the promoters of this norm in Mendoza was the then provincial legislator and today Minister of Defense, Luis Petri, which in 2020 had also promoted a project with similar characteristics in the National Congress.
In the arguments of the initiative that was sent to Congress this week it appears, as an example, that the Mendoza genetic fingerprint registry has processed more than 83,000 samples. This data bank is used in criminal investigations based on the specialized software CODIS -Combined DNA Index System, in its English name-, provided by an agreement with the FBI.
Precisely, the Minister of Security was in Washington this month, where she met with authorities from the United States criminal investigation office, where she agreed on assistance and training mechanisms for federal security forces.
“It is evident that there would be greater efficiency if the profiles of the perpetrators of crimes committed throughout the country were entered and automatically cross-referenced, as is done in the most advanced countries in the field, such as the United States. France, Germany, Spain, Australia, Uruguay, Brazil and Chile,” was stated in the message accompanying the bill to reform Law 26,879.
And it was added: “The fingerprint or genetic data system is not only a powerful tool to determine the responsibility of people accused in the investigation of a crime, but also to determine the innocence of those wrongfully accused in a judicial investigation.”
This initiative is part of a package of four bills linked to the area of Security that entered Congress at the same time. In addition, to the expansion of the registry of genetic fingerprints, the Government proposes changing the concept of recidivism to that of repetition of crimes, to prevent criminals from obtaining release who have several criminal proceedings open, but who do not have final convictions that expose them to the declaration of recidivism in the face of a new fact.
In addition, changes were proposed in the Penal Code and the Procedural Code to generate an anti-mafia law that takes into account situations such as those experienced in Rosario. And it was also requested to expand the scope of legitimate defense.