Collecting DNA: database mission creep.

• Author: Doherty, Brian
• Position: Citings - Brief article

SINCE DATABASES of DNA taken from convicted criminals have proven such a success in forensic investigations, why not create a universal one covering all citizens? So suggested James Hodge, director of the Center for Law and the Public Health at Johns Hopkins University, during a February forum sponsored by the National Academies, an advisory body for national science policy.

That isn't a serious policy proposal in D.C.--yet--but don't count it out. Forensic DNA databases, the first of which was created in 1989, initially included only violent felons for whom such evidence could be crucial, such as rapists and murderers. But they have expanded to include all felony prisoners, many people on probation, and, in most states, all juvenile offenders and all people convicted of misdemeanors. At least four states take DNA samples from everyone arrested for any reason, even before conviction. In January President George W. Bush signed a law authorizing the reds to do the same with their arrestees and...