Illinois DNA Law More Than Sufficient

According to a recent guest column in the Rockford Register Star, the ACLU's Ed Yohnka writes that “CSI” is not real life.

The ease of solving crime in a television program should not drive public policy. Many Americans today embrace a social phenomenon, dubbed the “CSI Effect.” Television programs about police investigators using forensic evidence to facilely solve murder mysteries drive the notion that science can provide easy answers for fighting crime.

House Bill 3238, which recently passed the Illinois House, would compel the collection of DNA from all people arrested for murder, home invasion or criminal sexual assault and indicted by a grand jury or subject to a probable cause finding by a judge.

This bill understates the constitutional and practical implications of collecting DNA from people who have not been convicted of any crime.

Supporters of the collection and permanent retention of DNA samples upon arrest and charging dismiss important constitutional concerns. Such compelled DNA testing violates the right to privacy under the U.S. and the Illinois constitutions.

Indeed, Illinois’ constitution contains even more explicit privacy protections than the federal Constitution.