‘It smells of Big Brother’: Some question legality, effectiveness of Louisiana’s expansive DNA database

Untitled Document A dozen years ago, just after Derrick Todd Lee was arrested and tied to a string of killings in south Louisiana, the state counted 12,000 DNA profiles in its database designed to help solve crimes.

Now, it has about 40 times as many.

When Lee died last month while still awaiting execution, authorities were quick to say lessons learned during the hunt for the serial killer helped create what is now one of the nation’s most expansive DNA databases, containing samples taken from anyone — including juveniles — arrested on a felony or a slew of misdemeanors.

Law enforcement officials and legislators say this large database provides a powerful tool for detectives, offering fresh leads on otherwise cold cases and helping link unknown suspects to unsolved crimes. But many civil libertarians worry the program has gone too far, harvesting DNA from potentially innocent people — those arrested but not yet convicted — in a manner that oversteps constitutional boundaries.

Perhaps it shouldn’t be a surprise that the state’s DNA policies have their roots in the Lee case. In...