California Supreme Court Upholds the State's Problematic Arrestee DNA Collection Law
By Jennifer Lynch,
Electronic Frontier Foundation
| 04. 02. 2018
In a disappointing and deeply divided opinion released today, the California Supreme Court upheld a state law law mandating DNA collection from arrestees. A lower court had held this law violated the privacy and search and seizure protections guaranteed under the California constitution. Today’s decision lets this flawed law stand.
The case, People v. Buza, involved a San Francisco man who challenged his conviction for refusing to provide a DNA sample after he was arrested. California law allows police to collect DNA from anyone arrested on suspicion of a felony—without a warrant or any finding by a judge that there was sufficient cause for the arrest. The state stores arrestees’ DNA samples indefinitely, and allows DNA profiles to be searched continuously by local, state, and federal law enforcement agencies.
EFF weighed in on the case in 2015, filing an amicus brief arguing the state’s constitution prohibits the collection of DNA from arrestees because of the severe impact DNA collection has on our right to privacy. Our DNA contains our entire genetic makeup—private and personal information that maps who we are, where we...
Related Articles
By Nicholas Iovino, Courthouse News Service | 05.01.2019
SAN FRANCISCO (CN) – Despite prior court rulings that police can collect DNA samples from people arrested but not convicted of crimes, a state court judge hinted Wednesday that holding onto that DNA data might violate the California Constitution.
“What...
DNA Testing, Medical Applications and Databases
The concept of merging DNA ancestry testing with forensic analysis is very disturbing. But there is much more – and potentially worse – happening. Merging both technologies with gene editing and also with medical applications is under active development. Both Jennifer Doudna and Feng Zhang, two of the three discoverers of CRISPR-Cas9, are involved with companies aiming for exactly this kind of synergy.
Meanwhile, security breaches of mega-databases seem to be increasingly common. And...
By Anna Maria Romero, The Independent | 03.21.2019
Mumbai—A Malaysian national has been detained at the Mumbai International Airport after it was discovered that he was carrying live human embryos inside a canister. Authorities found the canister to be suspicious-looking. The man said that he was transporting the...
By Karen Gullo, Electronic Frontier Foundation [cites CGS] | 03.29.2019
Analyzing and indefinitely keeping the DNA profiles of thousands of Californians arrested for felonies, but never charged with a crime, is not just an ominously overbroad practice by law enforcement—it’s an invasion of privacy that violates the state’s constitution. Last...
