Published on Thursday, December 29, 2011 by Deeplinks Blog / EFF
Time for Supreme Court to Weigh in on Forced DNA Collection
by Rebecca Jeschke
Can the government force people who are arrested – but not yet convicted of a crime – to give a DNA sample without a search warrant, or does that violate the Fourth Amendment? One arrestee is asking the U.S. Supreme Court to consider this important question, and this week EFF urged the court to take the case.
A federal law mandates DNA collection for those who have been arrested for felonies. The FBI analyzes the samples, and puts a profile into CODIS, a national database. Those who aren’t eventually convicted of a crime can get their information removed if they request to do so, but data from other individuals remains indefinitely. In this case from the Third Circuit Court of Appeals, U.S. v. Mitchell, the defendant argues that the DNA collection violates his Fourth Amendment right against unreasonable searches and seizures.
Some judges have considered DNA profiles in the same light as fingerprints – a means of identification. But DNA is much more than that. It can reveal your family background, your current health, and your future propensity for disease, among other personal details. In the future, as technology advances, scientists will be able to read even more into DNA. Meanwhile, the government is collecting this information without warrants, and storing them in a database that’s freely accessed by state and federal law enforcement agents across the country without any need for a search warrant. The Fourth Amendment prohibits warrantless searches and seizures of private information, and we think its protections apply to the DNA collection at issue here.
More at........
http://www.commondreams.org/view/2011/12/29-2
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