Jerry Brown to argue for DNA sampling policy in court

Attorney General Jerry Brown, the Democratic nominee for governor, will appear in federal court on Tuesday to defend the state’s policy of obtaining DNA samples from arrestees, regardless of whether they have been convicted of the crime.

The American Civil Liberties Union has sought to stop DNA sampling from arrestees, and has appealed to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

Brown was joined by Mark Sconce, the parent of a slain 12-year-old girl from Rancho Cordova, who is a member of the Surviving Parents Coalition. The group  supports collecting DNA samples from arrestees.

Read other coverage of this issue:

• ACLU Says Extracting DNA From Suspects Unconstitutional, October 2009, Wired.com
• Keeping Up With CODIS and Katie's Law, by James Cass, Genomics Law Report, August 2010
• Murder suspect identified strangled, dumped near Nicolaus, by Lois Gormley, July 2001, Marysville Appeal-Democrat