For over a decade, New York City has been secretly collecting DNA samples of New Yorkers without their consent or any court involvement in order to add them to the city’s “Suspect Index”.

The “Suspect Index” currently contains 34,872 profiles, many from people who have never been convicted of, much less charged with or even suspected of, a crime. The NYPD’s collection methodologies for the Suspect Index have long been reported to be racially discriminatory. Further, the NYPD routinely collects DNA samples in an orchestrated surreptitious manner through ruses involving straws, bottles, or even cigarettes, without the knowledge or consent of the searched individual and without a court order. These practices are currently being challenged in the United States Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit.

The Cato Institute joined an amicus brief filed by the ACLU and NYCLU urging the 2nd Circuit to protect New Yorkers’ genetic privacy rights by holding that these collection practices require a warrant:

“Because DNA reveals so much about every individual, collecting, analyzing, and indexing it constitutes a search under the Fourth Amendment. The government must therefore obtain a warrant for the practices challenged here.

“Upholding these practices would allow Defendants to continue expanding their DNA repository, constrained only by the size of the population of New Yorkers whose genetic information they can surreptitiously harvest. The law demands better from the government.”

To speak with Matthew Cavedon, the director of the Cato Institute’s Project on Criminal Justice, contact Christopher Tarvardian.