In 2016, a rape victim allowed the San Francisco Police Department to collect her DNA. Five years later, that same DNA was used to arrest her for an unrelated property crime, and now she’s suing the city of San Francisco.
“This is government overreach of the highest order, using the most unique and personal thing we have—our genetic code—without our knowledge to try and connect us to crime,” the plaintiff’s attorney said. That alleged breach of privacy could discourage sexual assualt victims from coming forward in the future, advocates claimed.
All charges against the woman, who is identified only as Jane Doe, were dropped by San Francisco District Attorney Chesa Boudin earlier this year. But a DA spokesperson told NPR that what had happened “was standard.” Under current California law, local forensics labs are allowed to collect, analyze, and store DNA without oversight from the state or other regulatory authorities.
“This is government overreach of the highest order, using the most unique and personal thing we have – our genetic code – without our knowledge to try and connect us to crime,” the woman’s attorney, Adante Pointer, said in a statement.
Details may be found in an article in the NPR web site at: https://www.npr.org/2022/09/13/1122670742/rape-dna-san-francisco-lawsuit.