The US Supreme Court ruled today, in the case of a Maryland law that permitted collection of DNA samples at the time of arrest for serious offenses. The court ruled 5-4 in upholding the law, essentially indicating that it was akin to taking fingerprints or photos of suspects who ultimately may not even be charged or convicted of an offense.

This clears the way for Wisconsin to implement the provision included in the Governor’s budget and passed by the Joint Finance Committee that will permit DNA sampling at arrest for adults and juveniles in a wide range of situations.

While privacy concerns, and concerns about unreasonable search and seizure were present, WCCF’s biggest concern is that the Governor and legislature have made no provision for automatically purging the DNA samples even in situations in which a juvenile is never charged with the alleged offense, let alone found delinquent. A youth may eventually request that the sample be purged from the data bank, but that assumes that they will understand their rights and/or be able to follow through. That doesn’t sound like a lot of teens, and even pre-teens, that I worked with over the years.

So, while collecting samples that may lead to stronger protections for child victims, Wisconsin’s approach simply looks the other way when an offender is not charged or convicted.  That part doesn’t seem right to me!  by Jim Moeser