Washington D.C. - President Barack Obama signed legislation into law Thursday that is designed to track violent criminals.
"Katie's Law" will provide grants to states that implement mandatory DNA fingerprinting for people arrested for violent crimes.
The information collected would then be used to determine if they have committed previous crimes.
The law is named after Katie Sepich, a young woman from New Mexico who was raped and murdered by a man who was caught for another crime three weeks after her death. The man was let go because authorities did not have any evidence of the previous crime, and was free for another three years.
Katie's Law was introduced by Senator Charles Schumer, as well as Senators Jeff Bingaman, Michael Bennet, Daniel Inouye, and Tom Udall.