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- WASHINGTON - An FBI database of the DNA of up to a million convicted criminals
from all 50 states will be activated Tuesday to help solve past and future
crimes.
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- ''Now a state can upload its own (DNA)
crime scene samples and make a hit, literally from coast to coast,'' says
Dawn Herkenham, chief of the FBI's forensic sciences unit, who confirmed
the activation date.
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- States will provide data to the National
DNA Identification System and share the DNA information.
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- A criminal can ''change his residence
but he can't change his DNA,'' Herkenham says.
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- Scientists believe DNA carries each individual's
unique genetic code. It is more sophisticated than a fingerprint in making
identifications.
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- DNA culled from blood or other body fluids
can be used to match suspects to evidence at crime scenes.
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- The federal DNA Identification Act of
1994 limits the database to DNA from convicted criminals. Access will be
restricted to law enforcement, and a court order will be required to use
the information in judicial proceedings.
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- For security, the location of the database
will be secret.
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- Civil libertarians and privacy advocates
say the database unfairly targets people based on past criminal acts.
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- ''It amounts to an unconstitutional warrantless
search on a national scale,'' says Benjamin Keehn, a Boston public defender
representing prisoners suing to avoid DNA collection. ''It's a computer-age
version of 'round up the usual suspects.' ''
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- Every state collects DNA of sex offenders.
States vary on whether they collect the DNA of other criminals, including
murderers, robbers and those who commit crimes against children. White-collar
criminals are excluded.
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- States will be able to use the national
list to compare DNA from future crime scenes or from unsolved crimes to
uncover a suspect who has gone undetected.
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- In an experiment in 17 states over three
years, 193 convicted criminals were matched to DNA taken from crime scenes,
the Justice Department says.
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