ACLU Opposes Expansion of Federal DNA Program to Arrestee Testing (6/12/2008)
Congress must avoid making arrestees suspects for the
rest of their lives
F
OR IMMEDIATE
RELEASE
Contact: (202) 675-2312 or media@dcaclu.org
WASHINGTON,
DC – The American Civil Liberties Union
urges Congress to oppose an amendment sponsored by Representative Adam B. Schiff
(D-CA) that is designed to test arrestees as part of an expansion of the federal
DNA program. Schiff’s amendment, which recently passed the House Judiciary
Committee, will provide incentives for state law enforcement officials to create
a permanent DNA database of arrestees that includes people who are detained on
misdemeanor charges, wrongfully arrested and others.
“Schiff’s
amendment encouraging the collection of arrestees’ DNA samples would turn the
presumption of innocence on its head,” said Caroline Fredrickson, director of
the Washington Legislative Office. “Anyone wrongfully arrested becomes part of a
permanent criminal database. Someone arrested for misdemeanor becomes a suspect
for life. Americans who have not been proven guilty under state laws go into a
DNA database with criminal offenders.”
Fredrickson
predicted, “With this expansion proposal, the federal DNA program will collect
and retain DNA from millions of innocent people. The purpose of DNA collection
will become population surveillance, not a criminal investigative
tool.”
Schiff’s
amendment will undermine the overall bill’s goal of eliminating the current DNA
testing backlog, by flooding the database with new samples from innocent people.
Representative Schiff introduced this amendment during the mark-up of a bill (HR
5057) to reauthorize the Debbie Smith DNA Backlog Grant Program.
For more information, go to:
http://www.aclu.org/crimjustice/gen/35392leg20080519.html
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