WTF?! San Francisco police linked a woman to a crime using DNA from her rape exam

[Nevilledog]

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Tweet text:

Demian Bulwa
@demianbulwa
BREAKING:

San Francisco police linked a woman to a crime using DNA collected from her past rape exam, according to DA Chesa Boudin

sfchronicle.com
San Francisco police linked a woman to a crime using DNA from her rape exam, D.A. Boudin says
The San Francisco police crime lab has been entering sexual assault victims’ DNA in a...
4:09 PM · Feb 14, 2022

https://www.sfchronicle.com/sf/article/San-Francisco-police-linked-a-woman-to-a-crime-16918673.php

No paywall
https://archive.fo/Z73BE

The San Francisco police crime lab has been entering sexual assault victims’ DNA profiles in a database used to identify suspects in crimes, District Attorney Chesa Boudin said Monday, an allegation that raises legal and ethical questions regarding the privacy rights of victims.

Boudin said his office was made aware of the practice last week, after a woman’s DNA collected years ago as part of a rape exam was used to link her to a recent property crime.

If DNA from a rape kit was used without consent for purposes other than investigating the underlying rape case, it may be a violation of constitutional protections against unreasonable searches and seizures as well as California’s Victims’ Bill of Rights, Boudin said.

Such a practice could also create another deterrent to sexual assault victims coming forward with allegations that are already notoriously under-reported to law enforcement.

*snip*

[Deuce]

1. This seems abusive of the technology????🤔

[WhiskeyGrinder]

2. The cruelty is breathtaking. K&R.

[Nevilledog]

4. I want to know if it was *all* rape victims, or if they selected whose DNA to enter.

[WhiskeyGrinder]

8. Either way it's shit and I can't see how it's not a violation of rights.

[Nevilledog]

9. I agree with you.

I just suspect it's even worse than being reported.

[treestar]

3. Why would they think that was a good idea?

Uploading the DNA into the database? That should be prohibited if that's how they collected the DNA.

[mercuryblues]

5. Just another way to keep women

silent.

[Bettie]

7. That was my immediate thought

they want women to just shut up about being raped and certainly never report it. Ever.

[berniesandersmittens]

15. Yep nt

[MustLoveBeagles]

20. Yep

[Solly Mack]

6. K&R

That's fucked up.

[Sympthsical]

10. We need names

Actual names of people who concocted, proposed, and enacted the policy. This is breathtaking in its violation of rights.

I do not want this fobbed off onto some vague, amorphous bureaucratic entity, where no one is held responsible for some poor decision they just didn't think through. No no. I do not want some, "Gee willicker, we were just trying to be helpful," excuse, and no one sees consequences.

Names. These people, if they are still present, need to be removed from government. If they think this is what government power is and what it is entitled to, they need to be gone.

This isn't a mistake. This is a mindset. If they think this horror is a good idea, they won't stop there.

[obamanut2012]

11. Jesus

[Jedi Guy]

12. California state law requires that DNA from rape kits be entered into the system.

SB 22 (2019-2020 session) went into effect on January 1, 2020, and requires that all SAE (sexual assault evidence) kits have associated DNA uploaded to CODIS (Combined DNA Index System) in a timely manner. Once it's in there, any search for any reason that matches will return a hit, regardless of why the DNA was originally entered.

Seems like an unintended consequence of SB 22.

[boston bean]

13. Not the victims DNA.

[Jedi Guy]

14. I'm not sure that's true, based on the text of the law.

(2) The crime lab shall do one of the following for any sexual assault forensic evidence received by the crime lab on or after January 1, 2016.
(A) Process sexual assault forensic evidence, create DNA profiles when able, and upload qualifying DNA profiles into CODIS as soon as practically possible, but no later than 120 days after initially receiving the evidence.

That seems to be the relevant bit of the law, and as you can see, it just says "create DNA profiles when able, and upload qualifying DNA profiles into CODIS." Nor does it say the victim's DNA isn't to be uploaded into CODIS.

So like I said, this seems to be an unintended consequence of the way the law is written.

[Liberty Belle]

17. CA needs to clarify that only DNA from the RAPIST can be entered, not the victim.

That would solve this problem.

[Jedi Guy]

21. No disagreement here.

Just saying, that's not how the law is currently worded, and now here we are. I'm guessing the legislature probably didn't foresee this happening.

[Karma13612]

16. Since it hasn't been mentioned yet, I'm going to address the elephant

In the room:

Has there been a prosecution of the rapist? Did they even bother to pursue the original reason for collecting the rape kit?

Jesus.

There are so many things broken in this country, I can’t even fathom it all.

On a happy note, hubby and I had lunch outside at a local seafood restaurant, right on the beach in Emerald Isle North Carolina. We were the only diners who braved the lower 50’s chilly sunny day with a brisk breeze forcing us to keep our jackets on. Delicious and fun. Our ‘surfer dude’ waiter was delightful as was the little black-n-white cat who quickly made friends with us.

Happy Valentines Day everyone! And thanks for the hearts I have accumulated over the course of this week! ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

[niyad]

18. That was my thought as well. Hell, we have a nationwide backlog of untested rape kits

yet this is what is done.

Happy Valentine's Day.

[Jedi Guy]

22. Not sure what you mean by, "yet this is what is done."

This is the consequence of a law that was created because of the nationwide backlog of rape kits. It was created specifically to ensure that information garnered via those kits was processed and entered in a timely fashion. All the data goes into a database so if a match is found later, it'll result in a hit.

That's all that happened here. This wasn't and isn't some sort of conspiracy against this woman in particular or women in general on the part of law enforcement or the state of California. The law is written in such a way that it doesn't specify that only the rapist's DNA goes in. So the lab dutifully entered the data, and then this woman's DNA was gathered from the scene of a different crime, processed, and resulted in a hit.

In just about any major police department, property crimes and sex crimes are handled by different units staffed by different officers. So the officers dealing with the property crime case had absolutely no way of knowing that they'd get a hit on DNA from a rape kit.

This is an example of the law of unintended consequences rather than evidence of malice on the part of any of the actors involved.

[niyad]

24. Thank you for the clarification.

[Leith]

19. I was wondering that, too

Did they bother?

[Stinky The Clown]

23. Whoever authorized this needs to be fired right now.

Whoever thought it up needs to be reprimanded in some way.

[Jacson6]

25. They enter everyone's DNA in a database. Doesn't matter how they collect it.

She is entitled to a fair trial just like everyone else.

[Whiskeytide]

26. Hmmm. You understand why putting a rape victim's ...

… DNA in CODIS is likely to silence women, right? The convenience for LE is not worth that. This is a very bad idea.

[LizBeth]

27. Because we live in a misogynist society while every pretends otherwise and explains to us

how this is not the case. This sickens me.

[Kali]

28. that is fucked up beyond belief