The Debbie Smith Act

On March 3, 1989 at 1p.m. Debbie Smith was kidnapped while her husband, a police officer, was asleep in their upstairs bedroom after working the night shift. Mrs. Smith had stepped out of the house briefly and upon returning she didn't lock the door. A masked stranger entered the home and dragged her into the woods behind her home and raped her repeatedly. Her attacker threatened to kill her if she told anyone, but she immediately told her husband what happened when she was finally released. She then reported her rape to law enforcement and she had a forensic exam performed.

Debbie Smith lived in fear for the next six and a half years. She was suicidal for the first few years. The rapist was finally caught because of a DNA database called CODIS (combined DNA Index System). He was convicted of Rape, abduction, robbery, burglary and larceny. He was sentenced to two life terms plus twenty-five years. Mrs. Smith's assailant had gone to jail only months after the attack for a separate offense, but because of a backlog in Virginia's DNA database it took it took six and half years to find him.

After Smith no longer had to fear the return of her attacker, she began to travel the country in order to lobby for the use of DNA-matching technology. Debbie Smith testified before the House Government Reform Committee in June 2001. Smith's testimony on the importance of DNA evidence lead Rep. Carolyn Maloney, who was working on anti-rape legislation at the time, to author the original Debbie Smith Act. On November 1, 2004 the Debbie Smith Act was signed into law. It is part of a larger bill that is called the Justice for All Act of 2004. Smith and Maloney worked closely to pass the bill.

The Debbie Smith Act authorizes over a billion dollars in funding over a five year period. The money is used to process backlog of DNA evidence, improve collection and processing by establishing a national standard for gathering DNA evidence and to train sexual-assault forensic examiners, prosecutors and law enforcement officers in collecting and using DNA evidence.

The act addresses the growing problem of collecting and analyzing the DNA evidence form backlogged rape kits that are sitting in crime laboratories around the country. The act clearly affects discrete operations within forensic and criminal justice systems.

Lifetime television recently aired "A Life Interrupted," a movie that is based on the life of Debbie Smith. The movie tells the story of the brutal attack that Smith suffered through and the struggle to make the Debbie Smith Act happen.

Debbie Smith continues to share her story and advocate for funding for the law she worked so hard to pass.