Do you want to know if we're living in a sci-fi utopia? In New Jersey, the father of a newborn baby was arrested for a crime he allegedly committed decades ago, thanks to the use of a baby's genetic material.
The New Jersey Public Defender's Office and the New Jersey Monitor, a nonprofit news organization, filed a public records request that forced the state to reveal that it used the baby's blood sample to convict the father of a sexual assault.
You are not alone if you learn that blood samples are taken from newborn babies. Most children born in the US since the 1970s have their blood drawn to be tested for diseases. Newborn samples can become part of legal drama in the age of cheap genetic analysis.
The report states that mandatory screenings are often done without the consent of parents. Most states don't require parental consent for the use of newborn samples in medical research. The NJ Monitor claimed when it first filed its lawsuit that it was the first public instance of newborn DNA being used to charge a family member.
According to the lawsuit, the state subpoenaed a state lab to use the father's nine-year-old child's genetic material to find a match for the sexual assault case. When he was subpoenaed to do a cheek DNA test, it turned out to be a match for the genetic material taken from the 1996 assault.
In the suit, the NJ Office of the Public Defenders said it believes the use of newborn DNA to get a cheek swab warrant was an illegal search, and it is now looking to find out how often state police use newborn DNA in investigations.
The case is similar to an onion, according to the attorney. Privacy is violated every time we peel back another layer.
The concept of using the DNA of newborn babies without anyone's consent for law enforcement has been around for a long time.
The police used a baby's genetic material to investigate its father for a crime.
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