DNA sampling of all persons arrested on felony charges in Georgia should be made mandatory.

Already 21 other states have such laws. Alabama, Florida, South Carolina and Tennessee are ahead of Georgia on mandatory DNA sampling.

Tennessee enacted the Johnia Berry Act in May 2007 — named for a young graduate student at the University of Tennessee, fatally stabbed in her apartment in 2004. Her parents, Mike and Joan Berry of Lawrenceville, began pushing for mandatory DNA collection upon arrest on felony charges. Less than four months after the Tennessee law was passed, a DNA match resulted in an arrest for the murder.

Now the parents and others that have joined in the Surviving Parents Coalition are working to get a Johnia Berry Act passed in Georgia. State Rep. Rob Teilhet (D-Smyrna) is sponsoring such a bill in this session of the General Assembly.

The biggest issue is the cost in view of the deep budget cuts in state spending in this recession, but creative minds can find a way to do the job economically through existing procedures. There are objections from privacy groups — but they should not take precedence over solving felonies.

Here in Georgia, several wrongly convicted and imprisoned persons have been exonerated and set free by DNA that proved they were innocent. It’s time to extend the DNA collection to persons arrested on felony charges and not only those convicted of felonies.