Ruling OK's mandatory DNA tests for parolees
/Federal parolees may be required to provide blood
samples for a national DNA database used to solve crimes, the US
Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ruled yesterday. The 6-to-5
decision, which overturned a three-judge panel's ruling last October,
brings the Ninth Circuit in line with other appellate courts around the
country that have examined the four-year-old federal DNA law. The law
requires federal prisoners, parolees, and probationers convicted of a
variety of crimes, including murder, sexual abuse, and burglary, to
provide blood samples for a national DNA bank monitored by law
enforcement. Judge Stephen Reinhardt, who wrote the ruling that
was overturned, said in a dissent that the new decision puts all
Americans at risk "of having our DNA samples permanently placed on file
in federal cyberspace . . . Even governments with benign intentions
have proved unable to regulate or use wisely vast stores of information
they collect regarding their citizens." [more 
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