Lawsuit Opposes California DNA Sampling Law
Two citizens of California are challenging a state law that requires authorities to take a sample of DNA from every person arrested for or chared with a felony. Elizabeth Haskell of Oakland and Reginald Ento of Sacramento say that the DNA collection violates constitutional guarantees of privacy and freedom from unreasonable search and seizure. Proposition 69 went into effect on January 1st of 2009, and according to the provision any adult that is arrested for or charged with a felony must provide a sample of DNA. These samples are stored in a criminal database accesible from local, state, national, and international law enforcement agencies.
Haskell said that mandatory DNA sampling would have a “silencing effect” on political action. “Now my genetic information is stored indefinitely in a government database simply because I was exercising my right to speak out,” Haskell told the media. She was arrested for attending a peace rally in San Francisco earlier this year.
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