Prior to the passage of this law, DNA samples were only collected from those convicted of violent crimes. Beginning January 1, 2009 samples will be collected from persons charged with committing or attempting to commit those crimes.

The initiative is expected to generate as many as 6,000 additional samples each year. Defense attorneys are concerned the lab is not prepared for the influx of samples, and a backlog will lead to wrongful convictions and unsolved crimes.

The Maryland State Police have allocated additional resources to the labs and are confident they will avoid such a scenario. In preparation for the enactment of this law the lab will hire 10 new lab technicians and train 500 agents in DNA collection.