First One in the Pool...

Last month, Biopolitical Times commented on the prominent British judge who proposes that DNA be collected from the country’s entire population – and anyone visiting – as a way to avoid racial genetic discrimination. That post, “Everybody into the Pool,” was followed by another – “They Really Mean EVERYBODY into the Pool” – about the 100,000 profiles already in the UK's criminal databases from children who have never been charged with a crime.

The point, of course, is that in fact not everybody is equally represented in the DNA databases that are rapidly expanding in the United States as well as the UK – or in the courts and the jails. A study by Queens College Professor of Sociology Harry Levine, for example, finds that eight times as many blacks as whites are arrested in New York City for low-level marijuana possession. But government statistics consistently show that marijuana use among blacks is significantly lower than among whites.

At a recent symposium on DNA in law enforcement organized by the Genetics and Public Policy Center, former CGS staffer Tania Simoncelli, now with the Technology and Liberty Project at the ACLU, cited these statistics to support her assertion that “privacy is not the only concern” about DNA databases. She comments:

[L]et’s be very clear about what we’re doing here. If we expand our databanks to arrestees, we are essentially creating a massive government database and databank comprised mostly of people of color.

The symposium transcript is well worth a read. Simoncelli discusses several reasons to be alarmed about the DNA database juggernaut in the U.S. Did you know that ten states and the federal government have decided to collect DNA not just from people convicted of a crime, but also from anyone merely arrested? Did you know that police now get DNA samples by following people around and picking up their cigarette butts and coffee cups?

Just because you’re paranoid doesn’t mean they’re not after your DNA.