DNA Samples Gathered From Time of Arrest Upheld

On December 14, 2008, we posted a blog about the Justice Department announcing that starting on January 9, 2009, everyone arrested by the federal government will have a DNA sample taken. For the first time, a federal court considered whether it passed constitutional muster and found that it did. A California defendant charged with a sex crime was released on bail and refused to submit to a DNA sample. He argued that requiring him to submit to this DNA sample procedure was unconstitutional. In 2005 Congress mandated that DNA samples be taken for certain crimes and a subsequent act mandated that DNA samples be given as a condition of pre trial release. While federal agencies have been authorized to collect these DNA samples since 2006, they only started doing so this year. The federal court in California found that after a person is lawfully arrested, no constitutional rights are violated when a DNA sample is taken solely to be used by law enforcement to solve other crimes.

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