DeniseJ
08-19-2004, 08:42 AM
Law requiring DNA blood test for federal parolees upheld
Thursday, August 19, 2004 The Associated Press
SAN FRANCISCO - A bitterly divided federal appeals court reversed itself Wednesday and upheld a law requiring federal parolees to give blood samples for the FBI's DNA database.
Ruling 6-5, an 11-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals parted course with a three-judge panel's 2-1 decision in October that said the law was an unconstitutional invasion of privacy. The larger panel declared that parolees give up some of their rights to be free from unreasonable search and seizure as a condition of being released from prison early.
The outcome mirrors five other circuit courts that have addressed the issue and leaves intact the DNA Analysis Backlog Elimination Act of 2000.
The San Francisco-based court's original decision had threatened to derail the federal act, as well as similar laws adopted in most states. The samples are turned over to the FBI, which analyzes the results and places them in a databank open to law enforcement nationally.
Mary Knox, the attorney in the case representing a paroled bank robber who did not wish to give blood, said she will appeal to the Supreme Court. She said governments may seek to require other people to submit their genetic information if the ruling stands.
"You always start with a group nobody cares about, like parolees and inmates. That's the way a police state works," Knox said. "And you keep expanding it and pretty soon it applies to everybody except people in power."
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Thursday, August 19, 2004 The Associated Press
SAN FRANCISCO - A bitterly divided federal appeals court reversed itself Wednesday and upheld a law requiring federal parolees to give blood samples for the FBI's DNA database.
Ruling 6-5, an 11-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals parted course with a three-judge panel's 2-1 decision in October that said the law was an unconstitutional invasion of privacy. The larger panel declared that parolees give up some of their rights to be free from unreasonable search and seizure as a condition of being released from prison early.
The outcome mirrors five other circuit courts that have addressed the issue and leaves intact the DNA Analysis Backlog Elimination Act of 2000.
The San Francisco-based court's original decision had threatened to derail the federal act, as well as similar laws adopted in most states. The samples are turned over to the FBI, which analyzes the results and places them in a databank open to law enforcement nationally.
Mary Knox, the attorney in the case representing a paroled bank robber who did not wish to give blood, said she will appeal to the Supreme Court. She said governments may seek to require other people to submit their genetic information if the ruling stands.
"You always start with a group nobody cares about, like parolees and inmates. That's the way a police state works," Knox said. "And you keep expanding it and pretty soon it applies to everybody except people in power."
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