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Police obviously already have access to outstanding warrants. Police should not have access to a victim's rape kit DNA except for use in solving that rape. The
by jakelazaroff 4y ago
Police obviously already have access to outstanding warrants. Police should not have access to a victim's rape kit DNA except for use in solving that rape. The reason is that you don't want to discourage rape victims from reporting.
- xigoi 4y agoHow is that different for other crimes? If a murderer is a victim of burglary and the police find a dead body in their house when investigating the burglary, should they not do anything?
- jakelazaroff 4y agoThe rape report was from six years ago. You really think it’s a good idea to say “you can report your rape, but we’re going to store your DNA in perpetuity to use against you”? You don’t see a difference between then and finding a dead body when investigating a burglary?
- xigoi 4y agoAlright, let's improve the analogy. You report a burglary, and one of the stolen things is a very unusual sword. You tell the police that no one else has a sword like this, which makes it very valuable. Six years later, you commit murder with the sword; when the police investigates it, one officer remembers that you're the only person with this type of sword. Do they have a right to mark you as a suspect?
- jakelazaroff 4y agoDNA is different because it identifies you directly. That creates a chilling effect. The likelihood of someone not reporting a burglary to the police because in a few years they might want to murder someone with their unique sword is… low. Rape is already infrequently reported because police are often hostile; we definitely don’t want to add that a crucial part of the victims will be forever on the police’s radar, just in case it ever becomes relevant, to be used as evidence against them.