WITCH HUNT: Some fear DNA database could be misused to target groups of people

Prisoner and crime-victim advocates say they fear the state database of inmate DNA samples used to prove people committed crimes could be abused for profiling witch hunts. "There's no question in my mind that the potential for violation is there," said Jeffrey Gamso, legal director for the American Civil Liberties Union of Ohio. "We certainly have real concerns. We certainly are ready to express those concerns. Whether we're going to do something legally is another question," Gamso said. At issue is a DNA database that has more than 57,000 profiles and will more than double this year with a new law that requires people convicted of any felony and some misdemeanors to submit specimens. Before, only inmates convicted of serious felony crimes had to submit to testing for DNA - which can come from saliva, semen or hair. In a separate database, Ohio has crime-scene DNA evidence from nearly 6,000 unsolved crimes. Staci Kitchen, executive director of the Ohio Coalition on Sexual Assault, said the state needs stricter rules for who has access to the DNA databases and how they are used. "We wouldn't want law enforcement to fall on stereotypes," Kitchen said. "For instance, when they are looking for a suspect and they go for the DNA for all blacks, or all Latinos, or all poor. It doesn't help to target the wrong person." Petro said he had seen no evidence the database had been used for anything other than trying to match DNA crime evidence against known samples in storage. "I've never seen it (profiling) as a possibility," Petro said Thursday. The databases are online but accessible only by prosecutors and police, officials said.  Thirty-six states now collect DNA from all convicted felons. [more]