Expanded N.Y. DNA Database Would Seek To Exonerate the Innocent, Expose the Guilty

The state of New York is considering a dramatic expansion of its DNA collection. New Yorkers who find themselves under arrest for anything may soon have to give up a sample.

“I propose it be expanded to 100-percent of all crimes. Let’s provide justice for all and let’s be the first state in the union to do that,”  Gov. Andrew Cuomo said recently.

But critics are already sounding the alarm.

“My worst fear is that innocent people will go to jail because of mistakes made in an overburdened system,” said Jeremy Gruber of the Council for Responsible Genetics.

Donna Lieberman, a spokesperson for the New York Civil Liberties Union, told CBS2′s Lou Young that, “proposals like this make us feel like we’re living in a CSI fantasy.”

But it isn’t a fantasy. Scientists have solved everything from burglaries to serial murder by comparing crime scene DNA to the DNA database.

But the question remains, how large should that database get?

So far the criteria for New York’s database has been increased four times since 1999. It began tracking only violent...