Creating a DNA Database of Suspected Felons

Summary: This measure would require the state to collect DNA samples from all people, adults or juveniles, arrested in felony cases, regardless of whether they are convicted. Currently, DNA is collected only from felons convicted of certain offenses. It would also expand the state’s DNA database. The cost to the state would be $20 million annually, according to the state legislative analyst’s office. Local costs would be offset by raising fines for some offenses.

Supporters: The measure’s author and key backer is Bruce Harrington, a Newport Beach attorney and real estate developer whose brother and sister-in-law were killed in 1980 in a crime that remains unsolved. Other supporters include Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, the California District Attorneys Assn. and other law enforcement groups.

Opponents: The measure is opposed by the ACLU, privacy rights groups and others who contend that it goes too far in collecting samples from people who have not been convicted.

Impact: Supporters say that having a massive state database of DNA would assist police in solving crimes. DNA evidence has been used in recent years to solve many long-stalled criminal investigations as well as to exonerate people wrongly convicted, supporters say. Opponents fear the creation of a massive government database that would include the genetic code of thousands of people who are never convicted of a crime. The ballot measure includes a provision under which people who are exonerated could have their DNA removed from the database, but opponents say that the procedure would be cumbersome.

Websites: In favor: www.dnayes.org.

Opposed: www.protectmyDNA.com.