False Occupy Murder Match Raises Concerns about DNA Database and NYPD Practices

In response to reports that an apparent link between a DNA sample taken at an Occupy Wall Street action and the 2004 unsolved murder of a Julliard student may be the result of a crime lab error, the New York Civil Liberties Union today issued the following statement, which is attributable to NYCLU Executive Director Donna Lieberman:

“In the popular imagination, and even in the minds of some law enforcement professionals, DNA evidence has taken on almost magical properties. But this troubling and bizarre episode demonstrates that human fallibility – and a rush to judgment – can lead to ‘false positives’ when police try to make DNA evidence fit the crime.

“The false match also raises concerns that the NYPD gathered DNA evidence specifically to intimidate Occupy protesters. The police should not be using DNA evidence – and contaminated DNA evidence at that – to chill people’s constitutional right to free speech.”

In March, state lawmakers approved a massive expansion of New York’s DNA databank. The legislation did not address the well-documented inadequacies in the state’s oversight of police crime labs; and the new law fails to establish rigorous statewide standards to prevent error and abuse in the collection, handling and analysis of forensic DNA.