THE DEBATES
There are many debates still going on today regarding this topic. The question of whether or not the Police should even be allowed to take DNA from arrestees to do DNA fingerprinting tests and use it against the accused is one of them. Many argue that criminals tend to repeat the same offenses again and again so there is no point in throwing out the profiles. Many studies have been done and have shown that by taking a sample of the arrestee's DNA a reduce in crime and avoidance of crime has been the result especially with homicides and rapes. However, others believe it is unconstitutional to be forced into giving up a sample of DNA that the police could later use against the person.
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Another question that has arisen is whether the arrestee's DNA should be kept or thrown out. Some say that if an arrestee's DNA profile does not match any previous unsolved crime and the arrestee is not convicted or the case is thrown out his DNA should be discarded from the database. In fact, in some states, such as Virginia, the DNA sample is automatically destroyed and the DNA profile is removed from the database. However there are others, who handle it differently. In California, the arrestee has to petition the court to have their DNA profile destroyed and removed from the database and in others, the DNA profile is catalogued and stored in a DNA Database indefinitely. They believe that certain arrestees may commit more crimes in the future and if they keep the DNA profiles, the guilty party can be identified faster, easier, and before more people become victims.