Queen Bee
Queen Bee
Police may now take DNA samples from people arrested in connection with serious crimes, per today's 5 to 4 Supreme Court decision. Although the federal government, along with 28 states allow this practice, the court ruled that the cheek swab type of DNA sampling is justified to support in the identification process of the suspect in custody.
Justice Anthony M. Kennedy, who wrote the majority's opinion for the decision said, “When officers make an arrest supported by probable cause to hold for a serious offense, and they bring the suspect to the station to be detained in custody, taking and analyzing a cheek swab of the arrestee’s DNA is like fingerprinting and photographing, a legitimate police booking procedure that is reasonable under the Fourth Amendment.†The DNA profile is entered into the Combined DNA Index System, or CODIS, the federal database, which, by the way contains the DNA profiles of more than 10 million offenders, as well as a record of DNA left at nearly half a million crime scenes. It has produced more than 205,000 hits so far of DNA matches between offender and crime scene, which has aided in more than 197,000 investigations. So, it looks like it works really well, and without it, many rapists and other criminals would remain free to commit more crimes.
Opponents of collecting DNA from people arrested for felonies are right to fear a massive government database that contains intimate DNA information about citizens' genetic and health histories. But that's not what CODIS is. CODIS contains only 13 genetic markers known as "junk markers," which were specifically chosen because they only reveal the identity of a person without divulging any physical or medical traits. DNA sampling is the same as fingerprinting. Both aide the police in identifying a person and nothing more.
Justice Kennedy, also in speaking for the majority opinion, maintained that using DNA for identification purposes is "a legitimate booking procedure" and no different than "matching tattoos to known gang symbols to reveal a criminal affiliation; or matching the arrestee's fingerprints to those recovered from a crime scene." He added, “taking and analyzing a cheek swab of the arrestee’s DNA is, like fingerprinting and photographing, a legitimate police booking procedure that is reasonable under the Fourth Amendment.â€
There is, however, one legitimate concern, which is the accessing of the database for non-law enforcement purposes. The fear that CODIS could be hacked, and DNA profiles could be used for the wrong purposes, even though a serious crime, has never happened. But, there is always a first time! Taking that into account, even if the database was accessed unlawfully, there's nothing more than a person's 13 DNA markers contained in it. The names of the individuals linked to the DNA profiles aren't stored in the same database. Instead, once there is a match, law enforcement contacts the jurisdiction that uploaded that profile to find out to whom the DNA belongs. With this extra level of protection, it's certainly pointless to even try to break in.
Anything that brings more criminals to justice is fine by me. Law abiding citizens have nothing to fear.
