Hanni Fakhoury writes:
Over the last few years, we’ve been battling laws that require a person arrested to give a DNA sample as part of the routine booking process. The law makes this DNA collection automatic and mandatory; law enforcement do not need a reason to collect the DNA and they can do so without a search warrant. Given the incredibly sensitive information that DNA can reveal about a person – details like a person’s medical history, predisposition to disease and even sexual orientation – government access to this information must be strictly limited. But a recentdecision (PDF) by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals found no constitutional problems with the government’s ability to collect DNA from recent arrestees without a search warrant.
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