We need better guidelines for collecting DNA samples

This editorial was published Dec. 22, 2008.

We want the police to catch criminals. And we want to give our law enforcement officials the tools to do their job.

But do we want to give them our DNA?

As of Jan. 9, thanks to a new Justice Department policy, law enforcement officials will have the right to take a DNA sample from all people arrested for federal crimes and from all detained noncitizens. That means people picked up for immigration violations, which are civil, not criminal cases. And that means people who have been arrested, not convicted.

That could mean up to 1.2 million people added to the federal database each year. The FBI's DNA Index System, set up in 1994 to store genetic information about people convicted of violent crimes such as rape and murder, has repeatedly been expanded, according to the Washington Post, first to include all convicted felons, then misdemeanants and state arrestees. The Post reports that as of August, the data bank contained more than 6.2 million samples, and officials estimate that 61,000 cases have been solved or assisted using DNA analysis.

Sen. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., was a prime backer of this legislation. He cites several cases that he believes would been solved before they became a string of rapes had the authorities had DNA on file from earlier arrests. One of the men was in the country illegally and had been deported on drug charges before returning and committing the rapes. The other had been arrested for felony reckless driving (in Washington state) and while out of jail awaiting trial, committed rapes. Both were later convicted.

It's hard to argue against stopping serial rapists.

But it's important to note that both men had been arrested on serious charges, which makes taking a DNA sample seem more reasonable. It also makes sense to use DNA if we consider it to be like any other identifying tool in the police arsenal: fingerprints, photos, identifying scars and tattoos.

And while we are troubled on some level that people who have committed a simple civil infraction will have to offer up their DNA, we should also remember that such evidence has also helped clear the names of innocent people wrongly convicted of crimes.

Clearly, guidelines must be put in place for the proper, judicious use of collecting DNA samples. Beyond that, though, there's no denying this particular science can be invaluable in finding the guilty, as well as protecting the innocent.

* Members of the Yakima Herald-Republic editorial board are Michael Shepard, Barbara Serrano, Bill Lee and Karen Troianello.

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