Facts About Prop 69

Proposition 69 Expands California’s Convicted Felon DNA Database To Include Innocent People

California law already requires the collection, storage and testing of DNA from people convicted of serious and violent felonies, including kidnappers, rapists, murderers and child molesters.

Proposition 69 will expand California’s massive criminal DNA database to include:

* All adults arrested for any felony offense—even if they are never charged with a crime. Only one other state in the nation goes this far: Louisiana.



* Children who plead guilty, no contest or are adjudicated or convicted for any felony offense, including shoplifting or writing a bad check.



Innocent People Do Not Belong Trapped in a Massive Government Criminal Database!

* Each year in California, more than 50,000 felony arrests do not result in criminal charges. If you are arrested, Proposition 69 gives the government the power to take and store your DNA in a massive government criminal database.



* Proposition 69 equates arrest with guilt, and gives police, rather than judges and juries, the power to force you to provide the state with evidence.



* Proposition 69 will put the most personal, private information about you and your family at risk. DNA is more than a fingerprint. It exposes the most intimate details about you and your family, including your predisposition and carrier status for diseases such as Alzheimer’s, heart disease and cancer. Experts have documented hundreds of cases where people have lost their job or health insurance based on genetic predictions.



* DNA testing is not infallible. Innocent people have spent years in jail for crimes they didn’t commit as a result of botched DNA testing and interpretation.



* Innocent people trapped in this vast government database have to petition the court to get out. After petitioning the court, the Department of Justice (DOJ), and a prosecutor, and providing a certified copy of documents proving your innocence, Proposition 69 says the court can deny your request for removal and that decision is nonappealable.



* Proposition 69 will cost hundreds of millions of dollars to implement.



* Adding innocent people to California’s criminal DNA database is not going to make us safer.



Vote NO on Proposition 69. It goes too far and costs Californians too much.

For more information call: (415) 621-1192



http://www.votenoon69.com

One of the most disturbing things about this proposition is the lack of an appeal process to have one's DNA record removed from the database. Even once a person is found not guilty they must request that the court (in which the hearing occurred) issue an order removing the information from the database. "The court has the discretion to grant or deny the request for expungement. The denial of a request for expungement is a nonappealable order and shall not be reviewed by petition or writ." (Sec 9, 4. c. 1). Does anyone really think the state won't abuse the right to keep DNA info on as many of us as possible (in case we might commit some crime in the future)? Pretty soon they'll be giving buccal swabs to first graders for safety reasons and the parents will comply (my parents had me fingerprinted as a child for anti-abduction purposes). Just one more step (see Patriot Act, TIA, CODIS, etc.) toward a complete record database on every citizen/resident. I can't believe that they are actually having us vote on this. Anyone who does vote for this is an idiot.

The full text of the proposition is reproduced from the voter guide here (pdf document): http://www.ss.ca.gov/elections/bp_nov04/prop_69_text_of_proposed_law.pdf