MARYLAND V. KING
The Court Rules That DNA Testing After Arrest for Serious Offenses Is Constitutional
Maryland v. King was featured in DNA Testing of Arrestees, SUPREME COURT DEBATES (Apr. 2013). The following is excerpted from the summary of the majority opinion written by Justice Kennedy, as prepared by the Court Reporter of Decisions: When officers make an arrest supported by probable cause to hold for a serious offense and bring the suspect to the station to be detained in custody, taking and analyzing a cheek swab of the arrestee’s DNA is, like fingerprinting and photographing, a legitimate police booking procedure that is reasonable under the Fourth Amendment. DNA testing may “significantly improve both the criminal…
