DNA Collection upon Arrest
One of the bedrocks of our society is that a person is innocent until proven guilty. The legislation would have mandated DNA collection from certain categories of arrestees – a major invasion of the privacy of individuals not yet proven guilty of any crime. Many people who are arrested are never charged with a crime, and even more are never convicted of a crime.
DNA is a person’s most private information. Unlike fingerprints, DNA can be used for far more than simply identifying individuals. It includes information about susceptibility to diseases and mental illnesses, as well as about blood relatives and ancestors. Given how sensitive this information is, the government should be allowed to collect it only in very limited circumstances.
As long as a DNA sample is available, it is susceptible to misuse, as has happened in many other databases across the country. Creating a larger database of DNA samples will tempt the government to use your DNA for ever-expanding purposes.
