DNA sampling to be as routine as fingerprinting

[BlueStar]

U.S. Set to Begin a Vast Expansion of DNA Sampling
New York Times
By JULIA PRESTON
February 5, 2007
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/05/wa...in&oref=slogin

The Justice Department is completing rules to allow the collection of DNA from most people arrested or detained by federal authorities, a vast expansion of DNA gathering that will ******* hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants, by far the largest group affected.

The new forensic DNA sampling was authorized by Congress in a little-noticed amendment to a January 2006 renewal of the Violence Against Women Act, which provides protections and assistance for victims of sexual crimes. The amendment permits DNA collecting from anyone under criminal arrest by federal authorities, and also from illegal immigrants detained by federal agents. ...

The goal, justice officials said, is to make the practice of DNA sampling as routine as fingerprinting for anyone detained by federal agents, including illegal immigrants. Until now, federal authorities have taken DNA samples only from convicted felons.

The law has strong support from crime victims’ organizations and some women’s groups, who say it will help law enforcement identify sexual predators and also detect dangerous criminals among illegal immigrants.

“Obviously, the bigger the DNA database, the better,” said Lynn Parrish, the spokeswoman for the Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network, based in Washington. “If this had been implemented years ago, it could have prevented many crimes. Rapists are generalists. They don’t just rape, they also murder.”

Peter Neufeld, a lawyer who is a co-director of the Innocence Project, which has exonerated dozens of prison inmates using DNA evidence, said the government was overreaching by seeking to apply DNA sampling as universally as fingerprinting.

“Whereas fingerprints merely identify the person who left them,” Mr. Neufeld said, “DNA profiles have the potential to reveal our physical diseases and mental disorders. It becomes intrusive when the government begins to mine our most intimate matters.” ...

“This has taken us by storm,” said Deborah Notkin, a lawyer who was president of the American Immigration Lawyers Association last year. “It’s so broad, it’s scary. It is a terrible thing to do because people are sometimes detained erroneously in the immigration system.”

Immigration lawyers noted that most immigration violations, including those committed when people enter the country illegally, are civil, not criminal, offenses. They warned that the new law would make it difficult for immigrants to remove their DNA profiles from the federal database, even if they were never found to have committed any serious violation or crime.

Under the new law, DNA samples would be taken from any illegal immigrants who are detained and would normally be fingerprinted, justice officials said. Last year federal customs, Border Patrol and immigration agents detained more than 1.2 million immigrants, the majority of them at the border with Mexico. About 238,000 of those immigrants were detained in immigration enforcement investigations. A great majority of all immigration detainees were fingerprinted, immigration officials said. About 102,000 people were arrested on federal charges not related to immigration in 2005.

... Federal Bureau of Investigation officials said they anticipated an increase ranging from 250,000 to as many as 1 million samples a year. ...

“What this does is move the DNA collection to the arrest stage,” said Erik Ablin, a Justice Department spokesman. “The general approach,” he said, “is to bring the collection of DNA samples into alignment with current federal fingerprint collection practices.” He said the department was “moving forward aggressively” to issue proposed regulations.

The 2006 amendment was sponsored by two border state Republicans, Senator Jon Kyl of Arizona and Senator John Cornyn of Texas. In an interview, Mr. Kyl said the measure was broadly drawn to encompass illegal immigrants as well as Americans arrested for federal crimes. He said that 13 percent of illegal immigrants detained in Arizona last year had criminal records. ...

Mr. Neufeld, of the Innocence Project, said his group supported broad DNA collection from convicted criminals. But, he said, “There is no demonstrable nexus between being detained for an immigration matter and the likelihood you are going to commit some serious violent crime.”

The DNA amendment has divided women’s groups that are usually unified supporters of the Violence Against Women Act, which was adopted in 1994.

“We were stunned by the extraordinary, broad sweep of this amendment,” said Lisalyn Jacobs, vice president for government relations at Legal Momentum, a law group founded by the National Organization for Women. Ms. Jacobs recalled that the amendment had been adopted by a voice vote with little debate. She said many lawmakers eager to renew the act, which enjoys solid bipartisan support, appeared unaware of the scope of the DNA amendment.

“The pervasive problems of profiling in the United States will only be exacerbated by such a system,” Ms. Jacobs said, because Latino and other immigrants will be greatly over-represented in the database. She noted that the law required a court order to remove a profile from the system. ...

[GlasgowKiss]

What? The land of the free?
Whoever told you that is your enemy!

[Aeroplane]

Don't forget the home of the brave.

[Nimrod's Son]

*spews DNA all over thread*

[homechicago]

well, that's it then.

weird when you can be a private citizen more easily in a third world country.

this is unsettling. when does the tracking device get implanted?

[Nimrod's Son]

Originally Posted by homechicago

well, that's it then.

weird when you can be a private citizen more easily in a third world country.

this is unsettling. when does the tracking device get implanted?

i'm sorry, i assumed you already had a cell phone

[homechicago]

Originally Posted by Nimrod's Son

i'm sorry, i assumed you already had a cell phone

i have one but i rarely have it on me. not a fan of being "reachable" when i'm out of my house. it's more of an emergency car trip or vacation use phone (which my friends hate). cell phones generally annoy me. too many people think they lead the life of a doctor or spy. judging by conversations i have to overhear, people don't know how to tell time or read a simple map.

sorry for the semi rant.

[Mablak]

Originally Posted by BlueStar

U.S. Set to Begin a Vast Expansion of DNA Sampling
New York Times
By JULIA PRESTON
February 5, 2007
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/05/wa...in&oref=slogin
...said Lynn Parrish, the spokeswoman for the Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network, based in Washington. “If this had been implemented years ago, it could have prevented many crimes. Rapists are generalists. They don’t just rape, they also murder.”

Well isn't that just the pot calling the kettle black.

[Nimrod's Son]

Originally Posted by homechicago

i have one but i rarely have it on me. not a fan of being "reachable" when i'm out of my house. it's more of an emergency car trip or vacation use phone (which my friends hate). cell phones generally annoy me. too many people think they lead the life of a doctor or spy. judging by conversations i have to overhear, people don't know how to tell time or read a simple map.

sorry for the semi rant.

oh well i just meant that the government already knows where you are, ponch

[Starla]

This reminds me of "Gattaca".

[homechicago]

Originally Posted by Nimrod's Son

oh well i just meant that the government already knows where you are, ponch

i know, but part of me wants to pretend no one knows or cares about my insignificant location.

i have to get a new passport and it bugs me they will now have rfid tags. hammertime.

[tear stained glass]

Originally Posted by To Starla

This reminds me of "Gattaca".

you're neglecting the fact that the people in gattaca are much more attractive and have much more money than the rest of us. also, who's going into space?

[Starla]

Originally Posted by tear stained glass

also, who's going into space?

The illegal aliens?

[Nimrod's Son]

Originally Posted by To Starla

The illegal aliens?

*suspects this to be some sort of native american plot to shoot whitey into space*

[Starla]

Not the mean ones.

[homechicago]

Originally Posted by **********

what is this?

State Department is currently switching all new passport production to RFID-enabled "e-Passports," a process that's slated to be complete around March

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1895,2080918,00.asp

[phaedrus]

Originally Posted by Nimrod's Son

i'm sorry, i assumed you already had a cell phone

...or a credit card

[Rarely]

DONT LET THEM GET YOUR DNA!

[homechicago]

Originally Posted by phaedrus

...or a credit card

your credit card has a radio frequency tracking device?

mine could only be tracked at point of sale.

[phaedrus]

Originally Posted by homechicago

mine could only be tracked at point of sale.

that's all i was getting at. it's enough to discourage me from using it so often.