California's Proposition 69: A Dangerous Precedent for Criminal DNA Databases

On November 2, 2004, California voters approved Proposition 69, “The DNA Fingerprint, Unsolved Crime, and Innocence Protection Act” by a margin of approximately 60 to 40 percent. Given the limited amount of information provided to voters during the initiative process, it is unclear how many of the y...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:	The Journal of law, medicine & ethics Vol. 33; no. 2; pp. 279 - 293
Main Authors:	Simoneelli, Tania, Steinhardt, Barry
Format:	Journal Article
Language:	English
Published:	Oxford, UK Blackwell Publishing Ltd 22-06-2005 SAGE Publications Sage Publications, Inc Cambridge University Press
Subjects:	Bioethics California Civil liberties Civil Rights - legislation & jurisprudence Confidentiality - legislation & jurisprudence Criminal evidence Criminal justice Criminal Law Criminals Databases, Genetic - legislation & jurisprudence Databases, Genetic - standards DNA evidence DNA Fingerprinting - legislation & jurisprudence DNA Fingerprinting - standards DNA fingerprints DNA identification DNA testing Evidence, Criminal Federal Government Forensic Sciences Genetics Government regulation Health technology assessment Humans Information Services Information Storage and Retrieval Laws, regulations and rules Politics Prejudice Prisoners Public Policy Social impact State Government State laws California Legal Approach Genetics and Reproduction
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Summary:	On November 2, 2004, California voters approved Proposition 69, “The DNA Fingerprint, Unsolved Crime, and Innocence Protection Act” by a margin of approximately 60 to 40 percent. Given the limited amount of information provided to voters during the initiative process, it is unclear how many of the yea-sayers were apprised of the full implications of this measure. Indeed, by voting “yes” on Proposition 69, California has elected to house the most radical and costly state criminal DNA database in the country. This dangerous expansion of California's database poses tremendous threats to civil liberties and social justice while offering little, if anything, by way of increasing the safety of its citizens. Prior to November 2, California law required the permanent retention of DNA samples from felons convicted of serious, violent crimes. The new law expands the database to include DNA samples from all felons and individuals with past felony convictions - including juveniles - and, beginning in five years, all adults arrested for any felony offense.
Bibliography:	ark:/67375/WNG-CM3242KP-F istex:F2AB66FCBEB77B32F5C2B992B3F149C5FD8AE7DE ArticleID:JLME279 ObjectType-Article-1 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-2 content type line 23
ISSN:	1073-1105 1748-720X
DOI:	10.1111/j.1748-720X.2005.tb00494.x