Political Quotes

“Mr. Speaker, I rise in opposition to H.R. 6014, the Katie Sepich Enhanced DNA Collection Act of 2012. I strongly support measures to increase our public safety, and the rationale behind the bill is laudable. I care about using DNA evidence in criminal prosecutions in order to solve crimes and to convict wrongdoers. I also appreciate the fact that DNA can many times clear persons, even persons who have been wrongfully convicted; but there is much doubt, Mr. Speaker, surrounding whether or not the DNA collection of arrested persons is good policy, let alone constitutional. By providing more incentives to extract DNA at arrests, this bill promotes restrictions on civil liberties, which are restrictions we do not and should not tolerate as a society, and it undermines the very criminal justice system it seeks to strengthen. Unlike collecting the DNA from a convicted felon, collecting DNA samples during arrests violates the Fourth Amendment's protection against unreasonable searches and seizures. I sincerely doubt that the Framers intended the Fourth Amendment to allow the State to hold a person's genetic blueprint without first finding that person guilty of a crime. Although the bill provides for the expungement of DNA profiles, it only does so after lengthy procedures undertaken by an innocent person. {time} 1340 Moreover, it does not address the physical DNA samples that would remain in storage. We should not permit our government, Mr.…”