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A “Special Need” For Change: Fourth Amendment Problems And Solutions Regarding Dna Databanking, Brendan Burke

Brendan Burke

Every state and the federal government have laws mandating DNA sampling from certain criminal offenders. Convicts’ DNA information is then stored in state and nationwide databanks for use in investigating crimes that the convicts might commit in the future. Law enforcement professionals applaud this system; civil libertarians abhor it. Because this is essentially a seizure of blood without probable cause, mandatory DNA sampling has been subject to close Fourth Amendment scrutiny. Courts have traditionally upheld mandatory DNA sampling statutes under the special-needs exception to the Fourth Amendment’s probable cause requirement, a doctrine that allows for administrative or regulatory searches if …