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PROGRAM SUCCESS – AUGUST 2009
New DNA Law Gateway to Racial Profiling
ORLANDO, Fla. – The Florida Civil Rights
Association (FCRA) issued the following statement in
response to a new Florida law that requires police
officials to collect DNA samples of any person arrested
on a felony.
The new DNA law signed by Governor Charlie Crist is
a direct threat to our civil rights, says J Willie David,
III, President of the Florida Civil Rights Association. It
simply undermines a fundamental concept of people
being innocent until proven guilty and it disregards the
protections of the Fourth and Fifth Amendments of the
U.S. Constitution.
This law gives law enforcement officials incentive to
abuse their police powers if they are interested in a
particular person to simply arrest the person on a pretextual felony charge in order to collect DNA sample.
David states that the new DNA law should be known as
the “GATEWAY ACT”—
an excuse used
historically by police officials to approach African
Americans targeted for possible criminal activities.
This law is nothing more than a gateway to racial
profiling, another means of identifying and tracking
African Americans.
The Florida Civil Rights Association is concerned that
the State is creating a giant DNA database where
material and information collected on the person
arrested can be misused by the government. State
lawmakers are sacrificing the constitutional rights of its
citizens in hopes of fighting crime, but looks pass the
negative ramifications of their decisions.
State Lawmakers need to seriously reconsider their
decision and vote to repeal the DNA Law. The Florida
Civil Rights Association believes that the new Florida
DNA Law will be found to be unconstitutional as the
Appellate Court found in Minnesota ’s DNA Law.
A Minnesota Appellate Court found the State DNA
Law to be unconstitutional
See Minnesota Appellate Court Case at:
http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/scripts/getcase.pl?court=
mn&vol=apppub\0610\opa060874-1010&invol=1
About the FCRA
The Florida Civil Rights Association (FCRA) is a
statewide civil and human rights organization based in
Orlando, that advocate to advance diversity, equal
opportunity, fairness for all people by eliminating
discrimination in the public and private sectors. For
more information about FCRA, visit our Website at:
www.fcranews.com