Universal DNA databases: a way to improve privacy?

INTRODUCTION Many people have a visceral, negative reaction to the idea of a universal DNAdatabase. Theirmain concern?That a universalDNAdatabasewould grossly invade their privacy. A universal DNA database’s benefits in efficiently and effectively solving crimes, exonerating the innocent, and decreasing racial disparities in law enforcement, however, make such a database immensely appealing from a public safety and criminal justice perspective. As of April 2017, the federal DNA database has assisted in more than 358,069 investigations.2 DNA evidence has exonerated 350 innocents who combined had served 4787 years in prison, sometimes on death row.3 DNA also enabled law enforcement to identify 149 of the true perpetrators of those crimes, who ‘went on to