Opinion ID: 76904
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The Georgia Constitution

Text: 28 The Georgia Constitution gives its citizens a right to privacy that is broader than that recognized by the United States Constitution. Georgia considers privacy a fundamental right, and it requires that courts carefully scrutinize cases in which an individual's privacy may have been infringed. King v. Georgia, 272 Ga. 788, 789, 535 S.E.2d 492, 494 (2000). The right to privacy protects matters that a reasonable person would consider private. Id. at 790, 535 S.E.2d 492. 29 A person's privacy interest is not inviolable, however. The state may constitutionally intrude upon a protected privacy interest pursuant to a statute which effectuates a compelling state interest and which is narrowly tailored to promote only that interest. Law enforcement constitutes a compelling state interest. Id. at 790, 535 S.E.2d at 495. 30 In spite of their incarceration, Boulineau and Burney retain a right to bodily privacy under the Georgia Constitution. Zant v. Prevatte, 248 Ga. 832, 833-34, 286 S.E.2d 715, 716-17 (1982) (prisoners retain the right to bodily privacy). The extraction of saliva required by the statute implicates this right. However, the statute promotes law enforcement, a compelling state interest, King, 272 Ga. at 791, 535 S.E.2d at 495, and it is narrowly tailored to promote law enforcement. The statute requires DNA profiling on incarcerated felons, O.C.G.A. § 24-4-60, a limited population. Further, it forbids the release of felons' DNA profiles except for law enforcement purposes. See O.C.G.A. § 24-4-60; O.C.G.A. § 24-4-63. Thus, the forcible extraction of saliva does not violate Boulineau and Burney's rights to privacy under the Georgia Constitution.