Early next year, the court is supposed to hear a case on the constitutionality of letting police departments collect DNA samples from people they arrest although I don't know if that's for all crimes. For example, presently NJ allows DNA collection for people convicted of all crimes that carry a prison sentence of six months or more and people arrested for serious crimes like murder and sexual offenses.
On a gut level, my libertarian sensibilities says this seems like something they would do in a totalitarian state but taking fingerprints has long been an accepted tool of law enforcement and the simple swabbing of the inside of your cheek is a lot less intrusive than a full body cavity search. Keeping in mind that DNA evidence has successfully gotten innocent people out of prison and off of death row, is this a necessary tool to keep the law abiding safe form criminals or another erosion of our right to privacy? Thoughts?