Wisconsin DNA Databank on Prisoners Upheld

[Brookie]

http://www.newsday.com/news/nationwo...orld-headlines


Wis. DNA Databank on Prisoners Upheld


By Associated Press

January 9, 2004, 10:56 PM EST

MADISON, Wis. -- Collecting DNA samples from Wisconsin prison inmates for a statewide databank to help solve other crimes is constitutional, a federal appeals court ruled Friday.

The 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago rejected claims from four inmates who argued that taking DNA samples violated their rights against unreasonable searches and seizures.

"Although the taking of a DNA sample is clearly a search, the Fourth Amendment does not proscribe all searches, only those that are unreasonable," the court of appeals said.

The government's interest in solving crime "outweighs the limited privacy interests that prisoners retain," it said.

The court also noted that state and federal courts have almost unanimously upheld similar statutes, which exist in all 50 states and at the federal level.

The U.S. Supreme Court has yet to address the validity of DNA collection statutes under the Fourth Amendment.