Alyssa Newcomb reports:
Samples of DNA were collected without parental consent from students at a Sacramento, Calif., middle school in connection with the murder of an 8 th grade student who was found stabbed, strangled and beaten to death near the dugout of a local park.
The Sacramento Sheriff’s Department, which has been spearheading the investigation into the murder of Jessica Funk-Haslam, 13, said parental consent was not required in the DNA collection and interview of minors, several of whom were taken out of class during the day last week at Albert Einstein Middle School.
“These are interviews, not interrogations,” Sheriff’s Deputy Jason Ramos told ABCNews.com. “They are all consensual. Once it’s done, there is a mechanism in place for school administrators to notify parents.”
[…]
There is nothing under California law that prohibits DNA collection of consenting minors, said John Myers, a professor at the McGeorge School of Law in Sacramento.
Say what?? How can minors meaningfully consent? And what happens to the DNA samples after this investigation? Will they be destroyed or will some profile be stored in a state or federal database? And were the students told what would happen to the samples before they were asked for their consent?
“Paging ACLU to Aisle 4….”
Read more on ABC.
Related: Teens willingly provide DNA in investigation of Rosemont girl’s slaying, detectives say
via Kashmir Hill