NCJ Number
191871
Journal
Police Chief Volume: 68 Issue: 10 Dated: October 2001 Pages: 94,96-99,100
Date Published
October 2001
Length
6 pages
Annotation
This article argues that DNA databases should include all felons.
Abstract
Since 1989, many U.S. States have enacted laws allowing for the collection and storage of DNA sequence information, or DNA profiles, from offenders convicted of serious crimes. This has enabled the identification of unknown offenders through comparison of physical evidence obtained from unsolved cases to offender DNA databases. The ability to bring to justice individuals responsible for crimes that would otherwise have remained unsolved highlights the utility of the offender DNA databases in criminal investigation. However, the establishment of DNA databases is not wholly supported in the criminal justice community. Some believe that obtaining DNA for future analysis violates an individual's right to protection from unreasonable searches and seizures under the Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Others object to offender DNA databases on the grounds that DNA collection constitutes an invasion of an individual's right to privacy. The article describes a study that analyzed the criminal histories of 61 offenders identified through DNA matches in an effort to evaluate the decision to include all felony offenders in offender DNA databases. Approximately 60 percent of the suspected sex offenders identified through DNA matches had at least one prior sex or violent offense. The study suggests that 40 percent of the matches for sex-related offenses may have been missed had the database been confined exclusively to violent or sex offenders. The article concludes that the study findings support the inclusion of all felony offenders in DNA databases. Notes, tables