Balancing Rights and Interests: The Power to Compulsorily Acquire DNA from Suspects in New Zealand

This article considers the power to collect DNA from suspects in New Zealand.<br><br>It is commonly acknowledged that the collection of DNA from a suspect involves a significant intrusion on individual rights such as bodily integrity and privacy. It is also accepted that there is a considerable public benefit to the forensic analysis of DNA in terms of detection of offending, prosecution of crime, and crime prevention and deterrence. The question then becomes whether (and under what conditions) the intrusion on the suspect’s person is justified in the public interest. Three main factors (the offence threshold, the level of intrusiveness, and the level of procedural protection) are employed here to consider the proper parameters of the power in New Zealand. It is argued that the evolution of the power's scope owes more to political expediency and the pursuit of crime control objectives than to a balanced approach to individual rights and societal interests. The validity of consent to sampling, the collection of data-bank samples and the retention of DNA from convicted and other persons in the national DNA database are related but separate issues which are outside the scope of this particular discussion.