This is a terrible idea. It figures it would be backed by law enforcement. We're talking about a proposed DNA databank in California.

The measure, championed by a Newport Beach, California, man whose brother and sister-in-law were murdered in 1980, would expand the range of crimes for which felons must submit DNA samples to the state's database to include nonviolent offenders, juveniles and uncharged suspects. The proposal has inflamed civil libertarians, who contend it flouts constitutional protections against unreasonable search and seizure, and has drawn the ire of public defenders who say it overburdens the cash-strapped state.

"Should we allow the government to engage in widespread searches?" Francisco Lobaco, the American Civil Liberties Union's legislative director, said. "It's the same concept as engaging in a non-consensual search of everybody leaving a mall because somebody has stolen something ... and putting that (information) in a database," Lobaco said.

....If voters approve the measure, it will allow California authorities to get DNA samples from everyone arrested or convicted on felony charges, as well as from misdemeanor sex offenders -- both adult and juvenile.

Let's hope the prohibitive cost of conducting 400,000 DNA tests a year will knock some sense into Californians. Isn't their budget crisis serious enough? Bruce Harrington, the sponsor of the bill--the man whose relatives were murdered--is a lawyer and real-estate developer who has already sunk $1.5 million into the measure. The state district attorneys association is supporting it and it may make it onto the November, 2004 ballot.

Laws should not be enacted out of grief or passion in response to a singular event--no matter how horrific.