NH- Innocent shouldn't have to submit DNA

4-20-2008 New Hampshire:

To cries of "war on terrorism" and "protect women and children from sex offenders," society has begun marching into a Brave New World where privacy and civil liberties go to the end of the line in hopes of achieving safety. Another corner was turned in that march last week when the U.S. government announced that it is about to begin collecting DNA samples, not just from people convicted of a federal crime, but of illegal immigrants, whose offenses are typically civil, not criminal, and anyone, citizen or not, arrested on suspicion of having committed a federal crime. The rule applies to all federal agents with law enforcement authority, including the IRS and the National Park Service.

Out with old notions like "right to privacy" and "innocent until proven guilty" and into a federal database that some people hope will eventually contain the genetic code of every person in the nation. This is a clock that must be turned back, or liberty will be lost. As Benjamin Franklin said two centuries ago in a quotation that appears in many variations, "They who give up an essential liberty for temporary security will deserve neither and lose both."

Most states already collect a DNA sample from people convicted of serious crimes, and 13 are busily building their databases by collecting samples from arrestees. In a few states, Florida, for example, police take cheek swabs of suspicious persons and people stopped for traffic violations, even if they aren't subsequently arrested, an act that seems like a clear violation of the Fourth Amendment prohibition against unreasonable search and seizure.

Until now, New Hampshire has not routinely collected the DNA of people convicted of a crime, but that will change if the Senate approves a bill that's already passed the House. The bill requires the collection of DNA sample from felons.

While it may make sense to collect and store the DNA of some classes of criminals, repeat juvenile sex offenders, for example, or those who have committed truly serious crimes, it should not be done routinely for all felons including teenagers convicted of drug felonies who would be put in the database for life. The bill, as written, would also apply to juvenile sex offenders, though they are tried in a process that doesn't accord them all the constitutional protections afforded an adult. Once again, the bill goes too far.

There are innumerable problems with the government's expansion of its DNA database to include people who are arrested but never convicted. The government should not have the right to possess the fundamental genetic identifiers of innocent people. The DNA of people who are found innocent will supposedly be destroyed. But even if government could be trusted to destroy it, the information will appear in too many places and be too deeply embedded to be removed permanently or affordably.

The desire to expand the database also provides a big incentive for law enforcement to arrest people they don't plan to try, in order to have their DNA "just in case." Nor should any database be considered absolutely secure - as the government's ample history of lost laptop computers bearing classified information and the hijacking of the credit card numbers of people who shop at supermarkets and other stores proves. The DNA information, after all, would be accessible by myriad law enforcement officers, and the genetic data it contains will be valuable.

The DNA information is said to be in a form that wouldn't allow an insurance company to screen customers for predilection to serious disease, but that claim is in dispute and the technology to extract information is improving rapidly.

The public has two weeks to comment on the DNA policy, which is scheduled to appear soon as a proposed rule in the Federal Register. It should resoundingly tell Congress that it doesn't want government to collect and keep on file the genetic codes of innocent people. ..more.. by Monitor staff