[EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: > excerpted from > >http://latimes.com/news/local/la-000010617feb11.story?coll=la%2Dheadlines%2Dcalifornia > > Refusal to give a DNA sample is a misdemeanor, a meaningless > punishment to those locked up for years. And Corrections Department > rules forbid the use of force in taking the samples without a court > order > > Corrections Department spokeswoman Terry Thornton said there are 800 > state inmates who won't give samples, along with the roughly 600 > people on death row who have been shielded from the DNA requirements > by a lawsuit. > > Harmon said he believes the number of uncooperative inmates is much > higher, and he faults the Corrections Department for its limits on the > use of force. "Strap 'em down," he said. > > A proposal to let corrections officers resort to force without a > court order to get DNA samples was recently introduced in the state > Legislature. > > The force issue touches on civil liberties questions that hover over > the entire concept of offender DNA databanks. > > "There is a certain specter of Nazi Germany," said Scott Ciment, > legislative advocate for California Attorneys for Criminal Justice, a > private criminal defense bar. > > Advocates went to court several years ago to stop the sampling of > eight condemned female prisoners, arguing that the testing violated > their constitutional rights. A court order was issued barring the > sampling, though for procedural rather than constitutional reasons. > The state is appealing the injunction, which has effectively prevented > sampling of all death row inmates. > > Ciment's organization opposed the recent addition of four > offenses--residential burglary, residential robbery, arson and > carjacking--to the nine sex and violent crimes requiring DNA samples. > > Ciment also says it would be unwise to make it easier for prison > guards to use force. > > DNA profiling can be used to prove innocence as well as guilt, and > defense and civil liberties groups concede that the databanks are > helpful to law enforcement. But they worry that the compilation of > genetic material from entire classes of people pushes society in a > dangerous direction. > > "It's appropriate that law enforcement have it as a tool," said > Elizabeth Schroeder, associate director of the American Civil > Liberties Union of Southern California. "But it has to be limited so > that we don't wind up as a national DNA databank--and all of us wind > up as a suspect." > > Although the DNA samples are collected solely for identification > purposes, they contain all manner of genetic information about not > only the inmates but also their blood relatives.
