NEGATIVE - DISADVANTAGE — PRIVACY HURTS SECURITY — LAW ENFORCEMENT AND CRIME DAMAGED 207

EXAMPLE: DNA DATABANKS

DNA DATA BANKS HAVE IMPORTANT SOCIAL BENEFITS, AND PRIVACY ADVOCATES GO TOO FAR IN OPPOSING THEM

Amitai Etzioni, Prof. George Washington Univ., USA TODAY, April 27, 2000, SECTION: NEWS; Pg. 17A TITLE: Balancing privacy, public good // acs-EE2001

There are other signs that civil libertarians are going overboard. Take their reaction to DNA testing. This new crime-fighting tool allows public authorities to take thousands of violent criminals off the streets. In England, more than 70,000 suspects have been linked to crimes through their DNA. In the United States, where the national DNA database is new, the FBI already reports that 200 cases have been solved this way. Better yet, DNA testing has achieved what should be a civil libertarian's dream: It has sprung at least 70 innocent people out of jail in the United States alone.

Civil libertarians, however, oppose DNA testing. They argue that keeping the results of criminals' DNA tests constitutes an unnecessary violation of privacy.

DNA TESTING IS CRITICAL TO APPREHENDING CRIMINALS

Angus J. Dodson, Winter, 2000; Colorado Law Review, "DNA "LINE-UPS" BASED ON A REASONABLE SUSPICION STANDARD," EE2001-hxm lxnx 

Although the physical intrusion necessary to obtain a DNA sample should not be a total bar to the use of Davis-type identification orders for DNA profiling, it seems clear that Fourth Amendment restrictions will prevent federal and state law enforcement agencies from ever adopting the broad dragnets that have occurred in Europe. However, it seems equally clear that limited circumstances will arise in which such identification procedures will enable police to narrow a list of suspects from several people who might reasonably be thought connected with a crime to a single individual. In this more limited arena, a DNA line-up might well serve a useful purpose in American criminal investigations.

CRIMINAL DNA DATABANKS VIOLATE PRIVACY

JAYSON BLAIR The New York Times, August 16, 1999, SECTION: Section B; Page 5; TITLE: Police Chiefs Join in Call For More DNA Sampling // acs-EE2001

Norman Siegel, the executive director of the New York Civil Liberties Union, who had expressed misgivings about possible abuses of privacy even in a DNA collection program limited to convicted felons, said civil libertarians would vigorously oppose collection from unconvicted suspects.

He said the association's proposal "underscores the threat to civil liberties posed by the potential use of DNA by law enforcement zealots." He maintained that Mr. Safir's proposal "ignores privacy concerns and violates fundamental Fourth Amendment principles that protect individual privacy from unreasonable searches and seizures by police agencies."

DNA DATABASE WILL PREVENT RAPE AND APPREHEND RAPISTS

JAYSON BLAIR The New York Times, August 16, 1999, SECTION: Section B; Page 5; TITLE: Police Chiefs Join in Call For More DNA Sampling // acs-EE2001

Mr. Safir said the value of a broad DNA database was demonstrated by the case of a man who this year was accused of sexually assaulting 51 women in the Bronx over five years. If the early collection plan had been in place, the Commissioner said, the police would have had DNA from the suspect, who had a criminal record, on file. They would then have been able to identify him after the first attack, Mr. Safir said, and "we would have had 50 less rapes."

NATIONAL CRIMINAL DATABASE WILL IMPROVE LAW ENFORCEMENT EFFICIENCY AND ACCURACY

David Byrd, The National Journal, February 5, 2000; Pg. 412; TITLE: Making Crime Less Private // acs-EE2001

Access to more-complete information, Kendall says, can help make the criminal justice system more responsive and-most important-more accurate and fair. Court systems, which have lagged behind police agencies in making their data accessible, would be part of the network, providing authorities with all- important information about the final outcome of cases.