Ok let me give you one of our favorite hypothetical scenarios. Say I have a clean record and no run ins with the police at all. Then one day out of no where I get [wrongfully] arrested for something I did not do. I get fingerprinted and a DNA sample is taken from me. Then all charges are dropped. Do my fingerprint and DNA still remain on file? This could connect me to a future crime…since the arrest was unlawful wouldn’t my fingerprints and DNA be evidence that couldn’t be used against me? Would they have to remove them from the database? A story I read about a kid who was arrested after turning in a cell phone he found. made me think of this.
It depends on the jurisdiction. In some places DNA can be saved and in some places it must be thrown away. Local laws and the results of local lawsuits are the deciding factors.
There is no one good answer to the question. If you assert that the state forcing the individual to yield DNA and fingerprints is a violation of the Fourteenth Amendment’s protections regarding due process, absent valid reason to obtain them (like a valid arrest), then one might well assert that invalidation of the arrest requires elimination of the poisoned fruit, like fingerprints and DNA samples. However, it’s not clear that the state is precluded from taking DNA or fingerprints from ANYONE, ANYTIME. Indeed, in light of Schmerber, I’d say the state is entitled under the United States Constitution to line us all up and take samples of anything they want, anytime they want (assuming some other constitutionally valid reason to have us “seized”). This would mean that the answer to the question in the OP would depend upon state statutes and/or state constitutional provisions (like the one in the California Constitution protecting “privacy”).
The (admittedly brief) wikipediaarticlestates that Schermber had blood drawn after being suspected of drunk driving. This doesn’t seem to be as sweeping as your claim of the states’ ability to take samples from ANYONE, ANYTIME. Did that case really bear out an interpretation with that much latitude?
There was a big kerfuffle in the U.K. about this recently: yes, your DNA and fingerprints are retained over here.
State law determines the circumstances under which someone can have their DNA profile expunged from the system. However, if it ends up in CODIS it’s pretty much there to stay.
bolding mine
just so we’re clear… there’s a huge difference between having charges dropped and an unlawful arrest. If you are arrested, the fingerprints and mugshot are retained even if the charges are later dropped. I believe this is true in all US jurisdictions, but not positive.