In a landmark decision, the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled the police can collect DNA samples from people they arrest even before they are convicted of a crime. Supporters of the swabbing method call it "the fingerprinting of the 21st century" that will help nab criminals and break open unsolved cases. But privacy advocates say the ruling is vague because it does not define what constitutes a "serious crime," and could create an incentive for police to make more arrests. The Supreme Court's 5-to-4 ruling will likely fuel an expansion of DNA swabbing nationwide. We host a debate between Michael Risher of the American Civil Liberties Union and Mai Fernandez of the National Center for Victims of Crime.

"We do support the decision, and the reason for that is that so many lives are going to be saved" Fernandez says. "If we can know ahead of time before somebody is going to commit a grievous act, who a person is through their DNA by their DNA being in the system and the arrest allows us to have that in the system, we can A: find cold cases that haven't been solved; and B: prevent other heinous crimes from happening like murder and rape."

Risher disagrees: "This is a general rummaging through our genetic blueprint to look for evidence of unknown, completely unrelated crimes, with no reason to think that the person who has been arrested for maybe a minor offense has maybe committed any other crime. It's an incredible broadening of the government's authority to stick its fingers into our body, seize our bodily tissues, seize our DNA profile and put it into an enormous criminal database with no suspicion that it is going to uncover any crime."

Democracy Now!, is an independent global news hour that airs weekdays on 1,100+ TV and radio stations Monday through Friday.

FOLLOW DEMOCRACY NOW! ONLINE:
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/democracynow
Twitter: @democracynow
Subscribe on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/democracynow
Listen on SoundCloud: http://www.soundcloud.com/democracynow
Daily Email News Digest: http://www.democracynow.org/subscribe

Please consider supporting independent media by making a donation to Democracy Now! today, visit http://www.democracynow.org/donate/YT