The consequences for having a black sheep in your family could be getting a little higher than just good gossip and awkward silences at family gatherings. SB 89, introduced by Senator Zakas, allows the Superintendent of the State Police to authorize an investigation of a person genetically related to another person whose DNA record is stored in the Indiana DNA data base. Such an investigation is permitted where there is a DNA sample under investigation that’s close but not quite a match to the person already in the database.
I don’t know if “investigation” is a term of art in this situation or if it means the same thing as for any other crime where the police reasonably suspect that a person might have committed a crime. If it means that they can come and get your DNA just because cousin Billy is a screw up, that’s a little creepy.
“A little creepy,” is an understatement. This seems like a direct violation of the Fourth Amendment. I would consider circumstantially being related to someone whose DNA closely matches someone in the database is hardly reasonable evidence necessary to extract DNA from probably innocent family members.
I understand the desire to populate the database, and I understand that having that close match might imply a relative could be the actual criminal; however, unless there is more substantial evidence to facilitate a search warrant and the like, I think this puts far too much power into the hands of investigators. I fear innocent people will burn for this, should it pass.
The scary part is that DNA can essentially be like a family tree – how far back is “genetically related?” At some point aren’t we ALL genetically related?
This is a disaster waiting to happen. Wasn’t Al Sharpton shown to be genetically related to Strom Thurmond? Do these people even think before they put pen to paper on this stuff?
Anyone read Robert J. Sawyer’s Neanderthal trilogy? In the alternate Earth populated by Neanderthals, anyone convicted of a violent crime is sterilized… and so is anyone more than 50% related to them (i.e. parents, children, and full siblings).
Nothing in this bill allows you to take DNA from a relative just because. Sometimes an investigation is just an investigation.
Peter, the problem is that it has no bounds. You use the term relative, but that isn’t used in the bill as a standard or defined. The bill uses the term, “genetically related” and fails to define, scientifically, what that means.
Is it immediate family only? Second cousins? Fourth cousins once removed? What are the limits? Nobody is trying to obstruct an investigation, but as written it would be a terrible law.
Marc, what bounds do you think that there are on investigations now? There aren’t any. If police believe, for whatever reason, that someone may be implicated in a crime, they will investigate them. There’s no probable cause requirement or reasonable suspicion requirement, no court hearing – they just investigate…and they can do so even based on a hunch.
So I’m not sure that this bill is even necessary, really – the police can already spend all of their time investigating someone’s family tree if they want to.