FBI to expand DNA database.

• Position: LEGAL

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

DNA evidence is essential in a murder or rape investigation, but should law enforcement officials take DNA samples from an individual who writes a bad check or gets pulled over for speeding?

Many privacy advocates are asking such questions with news that the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and many states are expanding their DNA databases to include millions of people who have been arrested or detained, but not yet convicted.

In April, The New York Times reported that the FBI began collecting DNA samples from individuals awaiting trim and from detained immigrants. Currently, 15 states collect DNA samples from individuals awaiting trial. Previously, the U.S. government collected only convicts' DNA.

The FBI's DNA database contains 6.7 million The Times said, but the agency expects to add 80,000 new entries annually--meaning the database will expand to 1.2 million by 2012. FBI officials told The Times that its DNA processing backlogs, which now stand at 500,000 cases, also will increase.

Law enforcement officials say expanding DNA collections will help solve more violent crimes, as well as potentially exonerate more people who have been wrongfully convicted, because it is more accurate than other forms of evidence. But privacy advocates and criminal justice experts say the databases violate the Fourth Amendment. Courts have generally been on law enforcement's side, upholding laws authorizing mandatory collection of DNA from convicts and...