DNA Privacy

DNA databases can be effective tools to solve crimes, but they must be managed responsibly. The Innocence Project supports the collection and databasing of DNA from convicted felons only. We believe that any policy of collecting DNA from additional populations violates personal privacy and impedes law enforcement.

Three reasons databases should be limited
 

• We don’t know how secure DNA databases are. If hackers or lab employees ever compromised the privacy of this information, the incredibly sensitive and personal biological information contained within DNA test results could end up in the wrong hands.
• To collect and store DNA samples from broader populations – such as all people arrested or people convicted of misdemeanors – puts enormous strain on underfunded and understaffed DNA labs across the country. When labs are overburdened, mistakes are made. Forensic labs should be focused on working on crimes and not testing samples from vast numbers of innocent people. Click here to read recent stories in our blog on crime lab backlogs around the country.
• Sometimes crime scene samples produce only partial results that match a larger percentage of the population. If hundreds of innocent people match a partial sample, crucial law enforcement resources are spent investigating innocenct suspects and the possibility of charging and convicting an innocent person is greatly increased.