DNA Samples To Be Gathered From Time of Arrest For Federal Crime

The Justice Department has announced that starting January 9, 2009, anyone arrested by the federal government will have a DNA sample taken at the time of the arrest, and the sample will be placed in a national database. In 2005 Congress passed legislation authorizing the Justice Department to make these rules. Up until now, the only time that a DNA sample would be taken by the federal government would be when an individual was convicted. This is how it works in Illinois. In Illinois defendants convicted of a felony offense are required to submit DNA samples upon being convicted. These new rules allow agents to take DNA samples upon an arrest rather than a conviction.

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