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LAS Reaffirms Need for DNA Reforms After Judge Refuses to Expunge Teen's Profile

The Legal Aid Society called for immediate action from Mayor Bill de Blasio and the City Council to shut down the City’s rogue DNA index operated by the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, after a Brooklyn Family Court judge ruled that the current law does not provide protection for a 15-year-old’s genetic profile, reports THE CITY.

“This decision shows why urgent action is needed to stop the City’s rogue DNA collection and storage practices. As the judge acknowledges, a 15-year-old boy’s DNA was taken by the NYPD through ’trickery,’ and sent to the City’s DNA laboratory for permanent inclusion in an unregulated databank,” said Terri Rosenblatt, Supervising Attorney of the DNA Unit at The Legal Aid Society. “But because of a perceived loophole in the law, a Family Court judge was barred from doing anything about it.”