CA Attorney General Echoes Concerns Voiced against DNA Proposition
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All Arrested, even those who are later found inncocent, will have DNA Taken from them
Attorney General Bill Lockyer, the highest-profile supporter of a Nov. 2 ballot measure to greatly expand the collection of DNA samples, now is echoing opponents' concerns about two key provisions in the initiative. Proposition 69 would require taking DNA samples not only from convicted criminals but from anyone arrested for an alleged felony starting in 2009. And those who are never charged or eventually are found innocent would have to petition a judge, a prosecutor and the state Department of Justice to have their genetic fingerprints removed from the statewide database. Critics say the twin provisions would ensnare the innocent. "I personally wouldn't have put arrests in the measure," Lockyer said on San Francisco public radio station KQED's Forum program last week. "I would have allowed for a much simpler process to get off the file." Lockyer continues to support the proposition as the only currently available way to create a DNA database of all felons, after the Legislature three times rejected such a move, spokeswoman Hallye Jordan said Thursday. California now collects DNA from those convicted of any of 36 serious felonies. Prop. 69 would quadruple the current databank to a projected 1 million samples in four years.
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