DNA bill beaten back
Thursday, May 21, 2009 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Kinda surprising that this DNA bill went down, considering the get tough on crime attitude of the GA in the past and the fact that it passed the House by an almost unanimous vote…
A controversial measure that would have required people arrested on felony charges to contribute a DNA sample to create a state database was narrowly rejected today by the state Senate.
The measure, sponsored by state Sen. Matt Murphy (R-Palatine), would require people arrested to submit to a mouth swab to collect DNA in much the same way arrestees are required to submit to fingerprinting. The DNA collection would be expunged in the event the person was found not guilty or the felony charges were dismissed.
With the Illinois State Police already facing a serious backlog in DNA processing, lawmakers said the measure would not have gone into effect until 2013.
Since it didn’t take effect until 2013 anyway, there was no real rush to pass it.
More…
“The innocent have nothing to fear from this legislation…” said state Sen. Pamela Althoff (R-McHenry).
Sentences like that always make me a little nervous.
* But, the rhetoric wasn’t exactly cool on the other side…
“It’s 25 years later, but we’re approaching George Orwell’s ‘1984’ right now,” said Sen. Kwame Raoul (D-Chicago), who opposed the proposal, saying it would have violated the due-process and equal-protection clauses of the Illinois Constitution.
“To have an officer come up to me without probable cause, arrest me and stick a swab in my mouth is against my constitutional rights,” Raoul said.
A cop shouldn’t be arresting anybody without probable cause.
* Both sides invoked the name of Barack Obama during the debate, claiming he’d either support or oppose the legislation. Sen. Rickey Hendon had this to say…
“I’m just sick and tired of people who hate Barack Obama who (are) always on tv against Barack Obama acting like they had a text message from him while driving this morning on the way to the Capitol telling them about this bill. It’s outrageous. You wasn’t with Obama, quit quoting his name.”
Discuss.
