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Dangerous Excursions: The Case against Expanding Forensic DNA Databases to Innocent Persons

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2021

Tania Simoncelli
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Extract

Over the past fifteen years, the United States has witnessed an extraordinary expansion in the banking and mining of DNA for law enforcement purposes. While the earliest state laws governing forensic DNA limited collection and retention of DNA samples to sexual offenders – on the theory that these persons were especially prone to recidivism and most likely to leave behind biological evidence – today forty-three states collect DNA from all felons, twenty-eight from juvenile offenders, and thirty-eight from those who commit certain categories of misdemeanors.

A few states have expanded their databases beyond convicted criminals. Virginia, Louisiana, Texas, and California have authorized DNA retention from persons merely arrested for various offenses, although to date only Virginia has implemented such a program. At the federal level, an ill-considered statute that allows for the seizure and storage of DNA from anyone arrested and from non-U.S. citizens detained under federal authorities was recently signed into law.

Type
Symposium
Information
Journal of Law, Medicine & Ethics , Volume 34 , Issue 2 , Summer 2006 , pp. 390 - 397
Copyright
Copyright © American Society of Law, Medicine and Ethics 2006

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References

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