Young men 'will fight back' against police who try to take a DNA sample under the new Criminal Investigations (Bodily Samples) Amendment Bill, says Maori party. Good on them, I say, because this bill goes way too far in its subjugation of individual rights.
From 2011, the police will be allowed to take DNA samples from anyone they intend charging with an imprisonable offence. Consent will not be needed, and samples will be able to be taken without judicial approval, says this article in The Herald.
This proposed law is disgraceful. We all know the police will take as many samples as they can because ultimately they would like to have everyone's DNA on file - it makes their job easier after all - and it's obvious that the criteria of 'intent to charge' can be applied to any person they arrest on any pretext. In other words, this bill gives the police the right to treat everyone like violent criminals and to hold them down while a DNA sample is forcibly taken from them - and presumably to beat the crap out of them if they try to resist. And all without the requirement to present any evidence to a judge to justify their thuggery.
This is like something out of Stalinist Russia and its introduction needs to be fought tooth and nail!
2 comments:
It goes WAY too far!
By all means take the DNA AFTER they are CONVICTED, though.
Agreed. I don't even have a problem with taking the samples upon charging so long as there is judicial oversight - it's this 'intent to charge' criteria with no oversight that's dangerous.
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