|
For Immediate Release
January 21, 2004
The American Civil Liberties Union of New Jersey (ACLU-NJ) filed a lawsuit today challenging the constitutionality of the New Jersey law that requires all persons convicted of a crime, including juveniles, to have their DNA collected by the State. The suit was filed on behalf of two individuals: A.A., who was 14 years old when he was arrested and sentenced to probation in juvenile court for what amounts to a fourth-degree crime, and Jamaal Allah, who was sentenced in 2001 to five to ten years in prison for two drug-related offenses.
“The first DNA law in New Jersey was limited to sexual offenders and the arguments for its passage were linked to the specific nature of those crimes,” noted Gitanjali Guttierez who, along with Lawrence Lustberg of Gibbons Del Deo Dolan Griffinger & Vecchione, represents the plaintiffs as volunteer cooperating attorneys for the ACLU-NJ. “I don’t think anyone then would have believed that the State would ultimately pass a law that would require a teenager or pre-teen to have his DNA extracted, catalogued, and maintained by the government for the rest of his life because of an act of delinquency committed before the law was even in existence,” she added.
The complaint filed today in Mercer County Superior Court alleges that the DNA law violates the United States and New Jersey Constitutions’ protections against unreasonable searches and seizures and against the imposition of retroactive punishment. The ACLU-NJ is asking the court to declare the law unconstitutional and to stop the Department of Corrections and the Probation Department from enforcing the law against the plaintiffs.
“Taking people’s DNA against their will is a serious privacy intrusion. Unlike fingerprints, DNA contains not only information related to one’s identity but also medical, genetic, and other private information,” stated ACLU-NJ Executive Director Deborah Jacobs.
The lawsuit is captioned A.A., et al. v. Attorney General of New Jersey, et al.
|
