The New York Court of Appeals ruled that the state legislature authorized the Commission on Forensic Sciences to create rules that allow police to access the New York state DNA database for identifying relatives of potential suspects. This decision effectively enables New York police to continue using the state’s DNA databank for such searches. The court further noted that the regulation allowing these searches poses minimal privacy risks to the plaintiffs.
Chief Judge Rowan Wilson, author of the majority opinion, stated that the commission is duly authorized by the state legislature to develop rules and regulations for familial DNA searches. Wilson pointed out that the regulation has led to a small number of familial searches, highlighting its restrictive nature.
Judge Stephen Lindley presented a contrasting view, arguing that the commission does not have the legislative authorization to make significant policy decisions. Lindley argued that the legislature itself should make such decisions.
Historically, the New York state legislature passed the DNA Databank Act in 1994, which established both the commission and a DNA database containing samples from certain criminal offenders. In 2010, the commission approved a rule allowing the release of “partial match” DNA information to law enforcement. Partial matches suggest potential familial relationships between individuals in the database and those related to crime scenes. The familial searches—deliberate partial match searches—were authorized by the commission in 2017.
The familial searches primarily come into play when no direct or partial DNA matches are available in the database. They are permissible for DNA material found at crime scenes of offenses, which pose a significant public safety threat. The plaintiffs in this case, siblings of state-convicted felons whose DNA is in the databank, sued the commission. The plaintiffs’ claim is that they are at a unique risk of being singled out through the DNA databank and subsequently pinpointed by the police due to their familial ties.
The news comes a month after Betty Rosa, Commissioner of Education of the State of New York, prohibited the usage of facial recognition technology in New York schools following a state report. The report concluded that the privacy risks to students outweighed potential security benefits.
You can read more about the ruling on the official post from JURIST – News.