특집 : 유전자감식의 제문제 ; 피의자의 유전자 정보 채취의 제문제 -유전자 감식 정보의 수집 및 관리에 관한 법률(안) 제출과 관련하여-

In August, the Korean government introduced a bill on collecting/databasing DNA information from the convicted as well as from the suspects. The crux of this piece of legislation is the fact that this bill attempts not only to gather DNA data from suspects, but to database the DNA information from the suspects, and that has a great potential to be problematic. The use of DNA in the criminal justice system might not be such an effective way of proving cases for the prosecution if there is no database to compare the specimen from the crime scene with. That is the main reason this bill sees the light. For the past twenty years, DNA evidence has widely been used as a vital one to prove/disprove cases. In the U.S., it was a crucial factor to exonerate death row inmates in many state capital crime cases. Also it has been a tool to find the person who committed a specific crime. The use of DNA evidence certainly has the advantage which should be taken very seriously. However inherently the use of DNA evidence has the danger of relying upon science rather than the human factor of judging when it is being used in trial. In addition, mandating DNA information gathering/databasing from suspects will be too intrusive for those particular suspects because no one can really sure how many times the DNA information will be a source database to be search with the specimen from the crime scene without any probable cause to do so. The goal of criminal justice system is not just about catching as many criminals as possible. Sometime we might need to let the guilty one go free to protect the sanctity of the system. In doing so, limiting the government`s power to invade a person`s privacy is another matter to deal with. Allowing the government to gather/database DNA information from suspects will open the door for a new chapter of mandating all the citizens be under the duty of submitting their DNA information like we give in our fingerprint information when government issued ID is needed. There should be some structured restriction on the trial of initiating databasing DNA evidence from the suspects.