California DNA Collection Law Struck Down

wiedzmin writes with an article in Wired about DNA collection from criminals in California. From the article: "A California appeals court is striking down a voter-approved measure requiring every adult arrested on a felony charge to submit a DNA sample. The First District Court of Appeal in San Francisco said Proposition 69 amounted to unconstitutional, warrantless searches of arrestees. More than 1.6 million samples have been taken following the law's 2009 implementation. Only about a half of those arrested in California are convicted." Note that the State can still appeal the ruling; according to the article, the Attorney General's office has made no comment as to whether they will do so.

Comments

Should have been obvious all along

[mr1911]

Arrest != Conviction

The appeals court made the correct ruling. Now they just need to order all of the samples destroyed.

Re:Should have been obvious all along

[MozeeToby]

Not everyone that gets arrested is arrested for an outstanding warrant. You can be arrested for 'Obstructing Justice' for taking a video of police beating an unarmed man as an example. Whether the courts will see it that way or not is another argument, but a police officer can essentially arrest you for anything they want, whenever they want. Unlawful arrest charges against cops are virtually unheard of.

Re:Should have been obvious all along

[interkin3tic]

Arrest != Conviction

Law enforcement and legislators haven't been able to see the distinction for a long time. It's a wonder we still have courts.

Re:Should have been obvious all along

[Wansu]

The problem is Mr. and Mrs. John Q. Voter can't tell the difference between "accused" and "convicted".

Many of them don't care about the difference between accused and convicted.

slashdot fail

[jalfrock]

The introductory comment says it's about "DNA collection from criminals". The whole point is that half of these people are *not* "criminals"!

Re:This is about government power

[Dishevel]

Nope.
The Republicans are just the opposite side of the same "Government Power" coin.
Republicans and Democrats do not differ in how much power they want the government to have. Only on who should benefit the most.
Big Businesses and Super Rich or Labor Unions and Lawyers.

Personally I do not trust either for shit.
People have to stand up and take responsibility for their own lives first and then remove themselves from the government teat.
Once we no longer need the government to provide for our finances we can take away their power over us.

Proposition 69...

[cobrausn]

Is poorly named unless the police also have to give a DNA sample to the arrested.