The San Francisco police crime lab has been entering sexual assault victims’ DNA profiles in a database used to identify suspects in crimes, District Attorney Chesa Boudin said Monday, an allegation that raises legal and ethical questions regarding the privacy rights of victims.
Boudin said his office was made aware of the purported practice last week, after a woman’s DNA collected years ago as part of a rape exam was used to link her to a recent property crime.
If DNA from a rape kit were used without consent for purposes other than investigating the underlying rape case, it may be a violation of constitutional protections against unreasonable searches and seizures as well as California’s Victims’ Bill of Rights, Boudin said.
Such a practice could also create another deterrent to sexual assault victims coming forward with allegations that are already underreported to law enforcement.
“The primary concern that I and my office have … is with detecting and preventing future crime,” Boudin said. “We want San Francisco to be as safe as possible, (and) we want survivors of sexual assault to feel comfortable and safe reporting and cooperating with law enforcement.”
Boudin said his office is not aware of how many times a sexual assault victim’s DNA may have been used to secure their arrest in a later case. Citing privacy concerns, Boudin offered few specifics about the case that he said alerted his office to the crime lab’s policy, but said it concerned a woman who received a rape exam in a domestic vi
