ACLU to challenge California initiative on DNA collection

Opponents said Thursday they will sue to block a voter-approved measure expanding California's DNA database to all suspected felons regardless of whether they are convicted. But state officials said they are moving ahead to implement Proposition 69, favored by nearly two-thirds of voters Tuesday. The same battle was fought 90 years ago when fingerprints first came into use as identifiers, and opponents have lost every legal challenge since, said Bruce Harrington, who bankrolled the initiative 24 years after his brother and sister-in-law were slain. "We're going to take your mug shot, we're going to take your fingerprint, and now we're going to take your DNA ?fingerprint,'" Harrington said. Beginning in 2009, the initiative requires that the state take samples of genetic material from anyone arrested on suspicion of committing a felony, even if they are never charged or convicted. Anyone acquitted or never charged could eventually petition to have the sample destroyed, although there are two other provisions in existing law that call for the samples to be removed from the records automatically after a time without a conviction. The American Civil Liberties Union estimates that 50,000 Californians a year are arrested but not convicted. The group says collecting the samples at the time of arrest runs counter to the American system of presuming innocence until guilt is proved. [more]