The existence and use of massive government databases raise a number of important questions about invasions of privacy. As this interesting New York Times article suggests, however, such databases can also help the police crack very important criminal cases:
A forgotten piece of evidence in a rape case from more than 30 years ago – a pair of underpants – has led to the DNA identification of a suspect in at least 24 other rapes and sexual assaults stretching from New York to Maryland, the authorities said yesterday.
The DNA matches have linked the man to a notorious series of unsolved rapes that terrorized Montgomery County in Maryland and drew comparisons with the rampage of the Boston Strangler. Manhattan authorities said the Maryland cases might be only the beginning, as other states run the suspect’s samples through their own DNA databanks.
The man, identified by his lawyer as Fletcher Anderson Worrell, 58, was located in an Atlanta suburb late last year after he tried to buy a shotgun. The background check turned up two arrest warrants for him in New York City.
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