San Francisco Police Sparks Outrage for Using Past Rape Exam DNA to Link Victims to Crimes: ‘This is Horrifying’

Leia IdlibyFeb 15th, 2022, 12:01 pm
 
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The San Francisco Police Department sparked outrage after it was accused of using DNA collected from rape and sexual assault victims to help identify them as possible suspects in other crimes.

The San Francisco Chronicle reported on the practice Monday, writing that District Attorney Chesa Boudin was horrified when made aware of it last week.

Speaking to The Washington Post, Boudin clarified that his office was looking into a case when an assistant district attorney discovered that the evidence identifying a suspect was from a sample collected from a rape survivor in 2016.

Boudin further told the Post that the language in the report suggested that the practice was not an isolated incident, and that the head of the crime lab told his office that such searches are done routinely.

Twitter users were furious about the practice, which Boudin called a “pretty clear” violation of the California Constitution, slamming it as “horrifying,” “disgusting,” and “fucking evil.”

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