And they're thinking of taking a DNA sample of all criminals arrested. Some say this is Government Gone Too Far.
An English neighbor I once had was beside himself with the Patriot Act, that anyone could be put into prison if they are committing a crime that could be construed as Terrorism.
My response is the same: If you're doing petty crimes or not-so petty crimes, and somebody with a badge has to take a moment out of their day to tell you to knock it off and throw some cuffs on you, A) you deserve to be investigated, and B) your DNA should absolutely be put on file in order that, when the time comes that you've gotten even more stupid, and committed bigger crimes, it'll be easier to plop your dumb ass behind bars and keep you away from law-abiding Americans just trying to live normal lives.
Is it the end of the world, if the government has DNA samples of all criminals? Stop doing crime! Duh! The end of the world is coming anyway, just get Right and expect it.
That's an excellent philosophy, except it's contrary to the spirit of the constitution. There's a reason it's so hard for cops to carry out certain functions of their jobs (like search and seizure, interrogation, etc.), because we must protect the guilty all the time in order to protect the innocent some of the time when they need protecting. It's a necessary cynicism that's inherent in the preservation of liberty. While storing everyone's DNA is only a little more dangerous than storing everyone's fingerprint (which they already do, and I support), the line where protection turns to oppression is pretty close to this. After this, is storing mugshots for facial recognition at football games. Then coffee shops. Then sidewalks. The next step is near automatic arrests if you are recognized as a criminal. Now, this would be all fine and good if criminals (and only criminals) could be captured this way, but considering how well private corporations are able to keep people's credit records accurate, there's no way I would feel comfortable trusting our "$200 hammer" government trying to keep my criminal record accurate enough to keep me from being picked up for no reason.
All I'm saying is "avoid even the appearrance of impropriety." So don't commit crimes. Any crimes. And I know, I know, that's coming from someone who can't get detention if she tried.
Where did I get such intelligent kids??? And golly, you are both right....it's a scary world we live in.