Constitutionality of DNA Testing and Database Cataloguing
The FBI's Combined DNA Index System (CODIS) is the U.S. nationwide DNA database, used in all 50 states. DNA database utilization in “cold” cases, where the suspect is identified through a connection with the national DNA database, has been extremely useful to law enforcement authorities. Rape victims of an unknown assailant can submit DNA samples, and then the samples can be matched to someone’s DNA in the database.
When police swab a suspect’s cheek, or obtain blood or semen samples, they usually keep the sample and extract the DNA, to be stored in the national DNA database. This is increasingly occurring across states when the person has merely been arrested as opposed to formally charged. States are also collecting the DNA of juveniles and misdemeanants of minor crimes such as shoplifting. 80,000 people are added to the database every month.
However, attorneys and civil rights groups have questioned the constitutionality of this database. Opponents of the DNA collection say it violates the Fourth Amendment proscription against unreasonable searches and seizures. This may occur when certain groups, which police have reasonable cause to believe may include a perpetrator, are detained in dragnets for DNA collection.
Also, our judicial tradition holds a person innocent until proven guilty. The Constitution embodies this idea in the right to remain silent and the right to a jury. Yet, a person in the DNA database can get hauled in for questioning when their DNA is merely similar to that found at a crime scene. These familial searches may amount to unfair surveillance of certain groups in the population.
Finally, a DNA database may invade the right of privacy. Some state constitutions specifically protect the privacy of its citizens. Civil liberties unions argue that DNA information is linked with other unique genetic identifiers pointing to elements such as likelihood of acquiring a disease. This information, which could potentially get into the hands of employers, is something that people would rather keep to themselves, and hence is a violation of privacy.
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Last Modified: 07-30-2009 11:18 AM PDT
