Experts Debate Including All Americans in DNA Database

By Danielle Truso

(AXcess News) Washington - As DNA databases expand, experts wonder if it is only a matter of time before all Americans will be included.

At a forum sponsored by the National Academies, which advises the country on science issues, those experts debated the benefits and risks of such a database. A larger database could help solve crimes more quickly, a proponent argued, but it would also violate civil liberties, an opponent claimed.

Since 2004, law enforcement has been authorized to collect DNA from anyone convicted of a felony. Previously, DNA was collected only from those convicted of violent crimes, such as rape and murder.

Legislation is being considered that would expand that to collect and permanently store DNA from anyone arrested by federal officials.

James G. Hodge Jr., executive director of the Center for Law and the Public's Health at Johns Hopkins University, said database expansion revolutionizes criminal investigation.

"The American public is still concerned about any genetic collection," he said. "Get over it."

Hodge said DNA provides no more private information than many documents, such as health records. The database would continue to be used for criminal investigations and not biological research.

With a larger pool of DNA samples, law enforcement could identify criminals before they commit more crimes, he said.

"This is the new fingerprint, except it's more reliable," he said.

While starting such a large database would be costly, he said it would save money spent on investigations.

An advantage to the system is that it would bridge the "racial divide" in the current system in which minorities are over-represented, Hodge said.

The system would not be used as a "dragnet" as it often is in the United Kingdom, he said. There, law enforcement officials collect DNA from large numbers of people to rule them out as suspects.

Tania Simoncelli, the American Civil Liberties Union science and technology fellow, said an all-inclusive database would create a dragnet that is "unfeasible, undesirable and unconstitutional."

"It will ultimately undermine criminal justice," she said.

A large database could connect innocent people to a crime scene because they had been there at some other time, she said.

All states except Wisconsin retain DNA samples collected in criminal investigations. But even there, it is unclear if samples actually are destroyed, she said.

Collecting DNA from all Americans would be challenged in court, Simoncelli said. Lower courts have ruled that gathering DNA constitutes a search, and law enforcement would need a warrant to collect it.

People also worry their DNA will be used for other purposes, she said. State laws vary, but some say DNA may be used for "other humanitarian purposes."

Aside from contradicting the Fourth Amendment, Simoncelli said creating the database would be a giant undertaking. The national database has 2.9 million offender profiles and would need to increase that to 300 million to cover all U.S. residents.

Crime labs become more backlogged with every expansion, she said. Adding more people hinders forensic labs and criminal investigations.

According to an article by Simoncelli, all 50 states have some type of database. Thirty-four states collect DNA from all felons, 38 for some category of misdemeanors, 28 from juvenile offenders and four from some arrestees.

These databases have aided in more than 30,000 criminal cases, said Thomas F. Callaghan, program manager of the FBI's Combined DNA Index System Unit. He took no position on whether the collection rules should be changed.

The FBI began its national DNA database in 1998, along with the software Combined DNA Index System, known as CODIS, that allows states to exchange DNA information.