LOS E.E.U.U. para ampliar la colección DNA de los sospechosos del crimen'
Lunes 21 de abril de 2008
Por Ellen Nakashima y Spencer Hsu | Escritores del personal del poste de Washington |
Los E.E.U.U. el gobierno pronto comenzará a recoger muestras de la DNA de todos los ciudadanos arrestados con respecto a cualquier crimen federal y de muchos inmigrantes detenidos por las autoridades federales, agregando identificadores genéticos de más de 1 millón de individuos al año a la base de datos federal rápidamente cada vez mayor de la DNA de la aplicación de ley.
La política ampliará substancialmente la práctica actual rutinariamente de recoger muestras de la DNA solamente de ésas condenadas por crímenes federales, y construirá en una política cada vez mayor entre estados para recoger la DNA de mucha gente se arreste que. Trece estados tan ahora hacen y dan la vuelta a sus datos al gobierno federal.
La iniciativa, ser publicado como regla propuesta en el registro federal en días que vienen, refleja un directorio del congreso a que la DNA de arrestees se recoja para ayudar para coger una gama de criminales domésticos. Pero también requiere, por primera vez, la colección de muestras de la DNA de la gente con excepción de los E.E.U.U. ciudadanos y residentes permanentes legales que son detenidos por los E.E.U.U. autoridades.
Aunque las huellas digitales se han recogido de largo para virtualmente cada arrestee, la opinión de los abogados de la aislamiento la nueva política amplía la base de datos de la DNA, funcionamiento por el FBI, más allá de su puntería inicial de almacenar la información en los autores de crímenes violentos.
También se preocupan que la gente podría ser detenida erróneamente y ser barrida en la base de datos sin causa, y que las muestras de la DNA de las que nunca se condenan por un crimen, debido a la absolución o un retiro de cargas, se pudieron no obstante conservar permanentemente por el FBI.
La “gente inocente no pertenece en una base de datos criminal supuesta,” dijo a Tania Simoncelli, consejero de la ciencia para la unión americana de las libertades civiles. “Estamos cruzando una línea.”
Ella dijo que si se guardan las muestras, podrían un día ser analizadas para la información sensible tal como enfermedades y ascendencia.
El portavoz Erik Ablin del departamento de la justicia dijo que la colección de muestras de la DNA “proporcionará una forma adicional de identificación biométrica de las personas que fingerprinted normalmente.” Las reglas de FBI imposibilitan el usar de muestras de la DNA para determinar los rasgos genéticos, las enfermedades o los desórdenes de una persona.
La extensión de la base de datos fue autorizada por Congress como actúa una enmienda a la violencia contra mujeres y mandada la cuenta sobre todo como manera de seguir abajo a rapists seriales, a asesinos y a otros delincuentes. “We know for a fact that the proposed regulations will save the lives of many innocent people and will prevent devastating crimes,” said Sen. Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.), a sponsor of the legislation. “These regulations are long overdue — we should have done this 10 years ago.”
The proposed rule applies to all federal agencies with the authority to arrest or detain, including the FBI, the Border Patrol and the Internal Revenue Service. Although details of the policy have not been announced, officials said they expect the bulk of the new DNA samples to be collected through cheek swabs.
U.S. officials said that when the measure is fully implemented, roughly 1.2 million people a year could be added to the national database. About 140,000 of those would be people arrested for federal crimes. Many of the rest would be foreigners detained for being in the United States illegally.
Immigration rights advocates note that most illegal immigrants are detained for administrative violations, not federal crimes. By adding their DNA to the database, “it casts them all as criminals,” said Paromita Shah, associate director of the National Immigration Project of the National Lawyers Guild.
The rule’s scope is still being negotiated, officials said, but it will not cover illegal immigrants picked up at sea; people being processed for legal admission to the United States, such as asylum seekers; and people undergoing secondary screening at ports of entry. It was unclear yesterday whether Mexican border-crossers who are briefly detained and then released in Mexico will be covered. The Border Patrol made 877,000 apprehensions in 2007, most of them of Mexicans.
The move comes as 13 states — including Virginia and, recently, Maryland — have passed laws to include many arrestees in their DNA databanks. California, which has more than 1 million profiles, will begin collecting DNA from all felony arrestees next year. The information will be uploaded to the national database, which today houses more than 5.9 million samples, making it the largest forensic DNA databank in the world.
The National DNA Index System (NDIS) was created by the DNA Identification Act of 1994 to store profiles of people convicted of serious violent crimes, such as rape and murder. A 2004 amendment expanded the collection to people convicted of any felony offense, and it allowed states to upload DNA profiles from people convicted of misdemeanors and from arrestees charged with a crime. In 2006, the law was changed again, enabling states to upload data from arrestees who had not been charged.
Over the years, the NDIS has yielded 66,750 hits in 67,285 investigations, FBI officials said. “I think by any measure, the program has been a success,” said Thomas Callaghan, head of the database, adding that the best way to increase its effectiveness is to add DNA samples from arrestees.
Jayann Sepich of Carlsbad, N.M., said she applauds the federal rule change. In August 2003, after Sepich’s 22-year-old daughter, Katie, was raped and killed, investigators found her attacker’s skin and blood under her fingernails. But no samples in the state’s database matched the evidence.
In 2006, moved by Katie Sepich’s death, the New Mexico legislature passed “Katie’s Law,” requiring the collection of arrestees’ DNA. That December, authorities arrested the man who had killed her — a DNA sample had been taken from him when he was arrested on a charge of aggravated burglary. Jayann Sepich is now a prominent advocate of similar laws in other states.
The new federal rule will conform to current law, which requires the removal of DNA profiles from the database when a conviction is reversed or when an arrest does not result in conviction. An individual must petition for expungement, Ablin said. Civil liberties advocates say removal should be automatic.
In Virginia, which in 2003 adopted one of the first arrestee laws, about 51 percent of arrestee profiles are eventually removed from the state database because charges are dropped or a case is dismissed, said Pete Marone, director of the Department of Forensic Science. He said it is the forensic lab’s duty to remove the profiles, something that can take a year or two. “As long as the case is in process, they’re still there,” he said.
Jim Harper, director of information policy studies at the libertarian Cato Institute, warned of mission creep. “The natural path is to move from the dangerous criminals down the chain, to anybody who has contact with law enforcement, and after that you’ll have DNA taken when people are born or first enter the country legally,” he said.
The proposed rule will be subject to a 30-day public comment period, Ablin said.
See More:Database State USA NewsHave Your Say: U.S. to Expand Collection Of Crime Suspects’ DNA
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This entry was posted on Monday, April 21st, 2008at 5:04 amand is filed under Surveillance, Civil Liberties & Human Rights News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
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