Parolee DNA Testing OKd
SAN FRANCISCO — Federal parolees may be required to provide blood samples for a national DNA database used to solve crime, the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled 6 to 5 Wednesday.
The decision, which overturned a three-judge panel's ruling in October, brings the 9th Circuit in line with other appellate courts around the country that have examined the 4-year-old federal DNA law.
The law requires federal prisoners, parolees and probationers convicted of a variety of crimes, including murder, sexual abuse and burglary, to provide blood samples for a national DNA bank monitored by law enforcement.
"By contributing to the solution of past crimes, DNA profiling of qualified federal offenders helps bring closure to countless victims of crime who long have languished in the knowledge that perpetrators remain at large," wrote Judge Diarmuid F. O'Scannlain for the San Francisco-based court.
Judge Stephen Reinhardt, who wrote the ruling that was overturned, complained in a dissent that the new decision puts all Americans at risk "of having our DNA samples permanently placed on file in federal cyberspace."
"Even governments with benign intentions have proved unable to regulate or use wisely vast stores of information they collect regarding their citizens," Reinhardt wrote.
He noted that Proposition 69, which will appear on the November ballot, would give California the right to take DNA samples from people who are arrested for felonies. If exonerated, they could go to a judge and obtain a court order to remove their DNA from a state database.
October's ruling concluded that the federal DNA program violated a parolee's right to privacy. Generally, law enforcement officers must have probable cause or some suspicion of criminal behavior before conducting a search, which includes taking a blood sample.
But Wednesday's decision held that parolees have only limited rights of privacy and can be forced to give blood samples even if there is no specific reason to suspect they were involved in additional crimes.
"Parolees have demonstrated by their adjudicated criminal conduct a capacity and willingness to commit crimes serous enough to deprive them of liberty," O'Scannlain wrote.
Taking a blood sample is only a "minimal intrusion" that is justified by the need to keep society safe, he said.
The DNA program "helps minimize the pain and suffering recidivist offenders sow in our communities," he wrote.
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