Opinion ID: 3050565
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Totality-of-the-Circumstances and Kincade

Text: The most apposite precedents in this Circuit to pass on the constitutionality of the 2004 DNA Act are Samson and the plurality decision from Kincade. As noted, three years ago the far more limited 2000 DNA Act was upheld by a plurality in Kincade, relying on a totality-of-the-circumstances analysis. 379 F.3d at 838-40. The plurality, however, was careful to note that their decision was limited to the version of the Act before the court, a version that targeted violent criminals. Distinguishing state programs that collected information from “non-violent drug offenders,” the plurality emphasized that “it is therefore particularly important to observe that we deal here solely with the legality of requiring compulsory DNA profiling of qualified federal offenders on conditional release.” Id. at 819 n.9. The plurality made clear that their decision therefore did not concern “the authority of the federal government . . . to pass less narrowly tailored legislation.” Id. (emphasis added). Thus, while Kincade provides some guidance, by its own terms it does not purport to decide whether or not the UNITED STATES v. KRIESEL 15323 “less narrowly tailored legislation” before us today passes Fourth Amendment scrutiny. See id. Although none are controlling, the majority places great weight on recent decisions from other circuits that have upheld the 2004 DNA Act against a Fourth Amendment challenge. Maj. Op. at 15309-10, 15316-17. A closer look at those cases reveals that the precise issues before us today have been treated with more breadth than depth. Two of those decisions relied on a “special needs” test which, in light of Samson, is the improper analytical method for analysis of the 2004 DNA Act. See United States v. Amerson, 483 F.3d 73, 78 (2d Cir. 2007); United States v. Hook, 471 F.3d 766, 772-74 (7th Cir. 2006).3 The decisions of the Eighth and Eleventh Circuits contain little to no analysis of the interests at stake when the government subjects all non-violent felony offenders to compulsory DNA sampling. In United States v. Krakilo, 451 F.3d 922, 924-25 (8th Cir. 2006), the court’s discussion is devoted almost entirely to choosing between a special needs or totality-of-the-circumstances analysis. Once the totality-of-the circumstances test is chosen, Krakilo summarily concludes with a one-sentence determination that the 2004 DNA Act is constitutional under that standard. Id. at 925. Similarly, in an unpublished opinion the Eleventh Circuit upholds the 2004 DNA Act based on circuit precedent concerning a state-based DNA collection statute, without engaging in any analysis whatsoever as to the government’s interests in permanently maintaining the DNA of non-violent federal felons. United 3 The Supreme Court has considered and rejected the contention that the government’s ever-present generalized interest in criminal law enforcement qualifies as a “special need.” Indianapolis v. Edmond, 531 U.S. 32, 41-42, 121 S.Ct. 447, 148 L.Ed.2d 333 (2000). Thus, even if it were the proper method of analysis (and after Samson it is not), the 2004 DNA Act would fail to survive Fourth Amendment review under that rubric. Kincade, 379 F.3d at 854-57 (Reinhardt, J., dissenting) (analyzing 2000 DNA Act under special needs). 15324 UNITED STATES v. KRIESEL States v. Castillo-Lagos, 147 Fed. App’x 71, 75 (11th Cir. 2005). In Weikert, the First Circuit engages in a more substantial totality-of-the-circumstances analysis than the other decisions, but it does not consider how lowered recidivism rates among non-violent offenders would affect the government’s interests under that analysis. No. 06-1861, ___ F.3d ___, 2007 WL 2265660, at -10. In United States v. Conley, in order to justify the 2004 DNA Act under a special needs analysis, the Sixth Circuit discussed with approval government data that suggested that white-collar crime had recidivism rates “in certain groups,” close to recidivism rates for firearms and robbery offenses. 453 F.3d 674, 679 (6th Cir. 2006).4 Conley, however, is silent on recidivism rates for non-violent drug offenders like Kriesel, and the court in Conley does not cite to any recidivism argument advanced by the government when trying to justify the 2004 DNA Act under the totality of the circumstances. Id. at 680-81. Only Banks v. United States, 490 F.3d 1178 (10th Cir. 2007), genuinely addresses whether the government’s interests in maintaining a permanent DNA collection of felons on supervised release are diminished in the case of non-violent offenders. The Tenth Circuit in Banks concedes that, “[t]o be sure, DNA might prove less valuable in solving non-violent crimes than violent crimes, making the Government’s interest in testing more compelling with respect to felons convicted of violent crimes.” 490 F.3d at 1189-90. The court goes on to explain away this distinction, however, by characterizing a supervised releasee’s privacy interests as virtually nonexistent and contending that “the effectiveness of the Government’s plan need not be high where the objective is significant and the privacy intrusion is minimal.” Id. at 1190. 4 The appellant in Conley had been convicted of bank fraud, committed while she was on probation for a similar fraud offense. 453 F.3d at 67475. UNITED STATES v. KRIESEL 15325 I have two problems with this analysis. First, Banks places such little weight on a releasee’s privacy interest as to make it a meaningless consideration. Second, the argument that a “significant” government objective is sufficient even if the statute under consideration does not actually promote that objective is sophistry—and is shockingly wrong. Knights instructs that evaluating the reasonableness of a search for Fourth Amendment purposes should be grounded in the “degree to which it is needed for the promotion of legitimate governmental interests.” 534 U.S. at 118-119 (emphasis added) (quoting Wyoming v. Houghton, 526 U.S. 295, 300, 119 S.Ct. 1297, 143 L.Ed.2d 408 (1999)). It simply cannot be correct that a statute authorizing warrantless searches can pass Fourth Amendment scrutiny with nothing more than a hypothetical interest advanced by the government but not actually promoted by the statute. The Tenth Circuit in Banks also cited statistical data collected from state prisons in 1994 indicating that “non-violent offenders have higher recidivism rates than the general population.” Id. at 1191 (citing U.S. Dept. of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics, Profile of Nonviolent Offenders Exiting State Prison (2004), http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/pub/pdf/ pnoesp.pdf).5 Working with these statistics, the court in Banks goes on to argue without authority or empirical evidence that non-violent offenders who recidivate are “committing crimes that DNA might solve (for example, violent offenses, drug offenses, and property offenses.).” Id. This unsupported leap is remarkable, given that just two pages earlier the court concedes that “DNA might prove less valuable in solving nonviolent crimes[.]” Id. at 1189.6 5 The statistics relied on in Banks are undermined by the government data regarding federal offenders placed in the record by Kriesel here, particularly drug offenders. 6 The study of state offenders relied on by the court in Banks does not indicate whether the “violent offenses” are of a type where DNA evidence could be of assistance. Profile of Nonviolent Offenders Exiting State Prison at 4. The other two categories, “property offenses” and “drug offenses,” are not defined or characterized by the study as violent offenses. 15326 UNITED STATES v. KRIESEL Because of the substantial erosion of Fourth Amendment protection posed by the 2004 DNA Act, we should not uncritically adopt decisions from other Circuits where controlling law in this Circuit does not dictate the same outcome. Thus, with the limitations from Kincade and Samson as a guide, we should consider Kriesel’s privacy interests as affected by the 2004 DNA Act on the one hand, balanced against the interests advanced by the government on the other.