Police Trick Suspect into Providing DNA

Professor Elizabeth E. Joh, a specialist in criminal law and procedure, was quoted in the ABA Journal eReport regarding a landmark case before the Washington Supreme Court in which police created an elaborate ruse to collect DNA from a suspect. Joh is the author of the upcoming law review article titled "Reclaiming 'Abandoned' DNA: The Fourth Amendment and Genetic Privacy," Northwestern University Law Review, Winter 2006. In the article, Joh points out that the current trend is for courts to treat the DNA that all people leave behind on a daily basis like abandoned trash and, therefore, fair game for law enforcement. She believes it's time for courts to reconsider the "trash doctrine" or for Congress to step in and set some guidelines.

The ABA Journal eReport