Posted on 01/30/2015 3:00:36 PM PST by Theoria
Virginia mother Gil Harrington is pushing Virginia to expand its database of DNA to include people convicted of Class 1 misdemeanors — a move she hopes will save lives.
Harrington’s daughter, Morgan Dana Harrington, was a 20-year-old Virginia Tech student when she was abducted and murdered in 2009, allegedly by the same man now accused of killing University of Virginia student Hannah Graham last October.
The alleged abductor, Jesse Matthew, was convicted of criminal trespassing in 2010, which means his DNA may have led prosecutors to solve Morgan’s case, which in turn means that he may have been jailed before his alleged encounter with Graham. He is currently incarcerated in Charlottesville, Virginia where he awaits trial in March.
Harrington, who founded the group Help Save the Next Girl, addressed Virginia’s General Assembly this week. Today, she talks with Here & Now’s Lisa Mullins about her efforts to pass a new law on DNA.
(Excerpt) Read more at hereandnow.wbur.org ...
my point is if someone is going to fight for new laws, i would rather have them fight for new laws that help people from becoming victims and protect them if they have to defend themselves, rather than giving over more intrusive powers or expanding existing powers, to govt.
Most of these women who espouse stuff like this find a perverse satisfaction and importance in having a slain kid so they can go on some insane rampage and indulge in suggesting all sorts of asinine ‘precautions’ to indulge in their determination to be protected from a very difficult world.
Much of these liberal policies can be traced back to someone who refuses to take responsibility for their own lives and own safety and desperately want someone else to face it for them. To help them abdicate ANY responsibility for their lives.
i think that that does happen. not sure here.
what i do know that it is not good to have an impulsive reaction totally based on fluctuating feelings to pass a law. like i said i’d rather have them advocate for things that are proactive and give more legal rights to people to defend themselves, rather than expanding the surveillance states’ powers. to pushit through on emotion and believe there are no down sides and it can ever harm innocent people is naive and dishonest.
Would it be as a deterrent, or just to get the monster off the street before they could do multiple rapes?
Guys that will rape and kill don't consider deterrent. I don't understand what they are thinking, but they aren't 'calculating' in that sense.
My only question would be if the DNA process is really that solid.
do i need the /sarc tag? i figured the rest of my post gave context.
Sorry, but I do have a pretty good understanding of the criminal justice system. Fingerprinting is part of almost all booking processes and the fingerprint data obtained is stored in a national database.
Obtaining DNA samples, determining the DNA “profiles” and storing/maintaining those profiles in the national database are much more restricted and limited. Below is a link to more information on this.
http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/lab/biometric-analysis/codis/codis-and-ndis-fact-sheet
A lot of folks are fearful of this but the only folks who really need to be fearful are criminals and serious violators of the law.
Thanks for the link. We can all read information on the Internet and learn about how things are supposed to be done. The question is, have you ever done them. Investigations, case building, prosecution, and case closure don’t always follow text book procedure. Corners are cut, rules are bent and even sometimes broken. It’s not black and white, there are many other shades of color to the equation.
Oh fudge! Why not save time and take it to it's logical conclusion. Extract DNA from every grade school kid when they get their mandated shots. It will save everyone a lot of grief and solve all the coulda, woulda , shoulda's..... [sarcasm tag]
Then you are also fine with them looking at all your emails, listening in on every conversation, and perhaps even peeking in your bedroom window just in case they might need to have that data to convict you of something with?
I bet you also believe (mistakenly) that you are pro-Constitution...
You are being absurd, illogical and ridiculous. Which is your constitutional right, of course. Try to educate yourself.
The Integrated Automated Fingerprint Identification System is a national fingerprint and criminal history system. it has not only fingerprint data but much more associated information such as name(s) height, weight, and hair and eye color. This contains information on not only criminals but also on many non-criminals. My data is in there from both my military service and from the process of obtaining security clearances for a number of jobs I have had in private industry. Many of my fellow FReepers also have their information in this database. I do not consider having my fingerprints and identifying data in the database as intrusive. Here is a link with more information.
http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/cjis/fingerprints_biometrics/iafis/iafis/
Below is a link to more information about the database housing DNA profile information of many criminals. You’ll note that it is much LESS intrusive than the fingerprint database. For example it does NOT contain names and physical attributes such as height and hair/eye color.
http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/lab/biometric-analysis/codis/codis-and-ndis-fact-sheet
I personally consider much of my data being there (prior military and CCW holder) to be intrusive and unnecessary. The fact that there may be some "usefulness" to the data does not constitute it being correctly collected/held/used. Having some activist demand even more data be collected is not my idea of the way to go - most of the Freedoms we have lost started with 'sensible sounding" ideas and movements. You can consider me to be "absurd, illogical and ridiculous" but I consider you in the same light. It's reminiscent of the sage advise about how those who were willing to give up some freedoms in the name of security deserving neither. Many who think they believe in the Constitution have their little pet exceptions that are just fine and dandy because they happen to make sense to them - that's how the Constitution has come to take a back seat to many who rule the low-life scum that used to be The People...
Perhaps I am the one who needs to be educated/enlightened.
Do your have some examples of how our national fingerprint database is not “being correctly collected/held/used”? And do you have any suggestions on how it can be improved?
And I have the same question on our national DNA profile database. Is that not “being correctly collected/held/used” in reality? Do you have some suggestions on how it can be improved?
Never researched all the ways the data is being collected/used. Where is it all Constitutional (other than some lawyers/judges deciding that the Constitution allows it? We all know that there are absolutely no un-Constitutional laws, etc., being imposed upon us under the guise of law.
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