President Obama supports expanded DNA testing on all people arrested in the US.  John Walsh sat down with President Obama on March 6th, during Fox network’s 1000th episode of “America’s Most Wanted,” to discuss increased federal financial support of the Adam Walsh Act (the measure which effectively created the National Sex Offender Registry). President Obama responded in the affirmative to Walsh’s comments regarding state compliance with DNA testing and FBI backlogs, as noted by Josh Gerstein on the POLITICO website on March 9, 2010.  The President’s comments demonstrate his commitment to DNA testing upon arrest and to continued build-up of a national DNA database; which have raised concerns among criminologists and civil libertarians. Referring to Building Jim Crow’s Database, Gerstein notes minorities are far more likely to be arrested, thus, the database will be “racially incredibly skewed.”  Further, considering that records are permanently stored and can only be removed through court processes; many people are concerned with future privacy violations against US citizens and residents.
Source: “Obama backs DNA test in arrests,”
POLITICO, March 9, 2010
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0310/34097.html
Author: Josh Gerstein,
Student Researacher: Julie Lewis
Faculty Instructor:Â Peter Phillips
Faculty Evaluator: Patrick Jackson,
Criminology Dept., Sonoma State University