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The 5th Amendment to the Constitution provides that no person “shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself.” The Supreme Court has held that this privilege reaches no further than communications that are testimonial DNA, like a fingerprint or blood sample, is non-testimonial and thus there is no 5th Amendment violation when DNA samples are lawfully obtained. Gilbert v. California, 388 U.S. 263; 87 S. Ct. 1951; 18 L. Ed. 2d 1178 (1967); Schmerber v. California, 384 U.S. 757 (1966); Boling v. Romer, 101 F.3d 1336 (10th Cir. 1996).
Additional Online Courses
- What Every First Responding Officer Should Know About DNA Evidence
- Collecting DNA Evidence at Property Crime Scenes
- DNA – A Prosecutor’s Practice Notebook
- Crime Scene and DNA Basics
- Laboratory Safety Programs
- DNA Amplification
- Population Genetics and Statistics
- Non-STR DNA Markers: SNPs, Y-STRs, LCN and mtDNA
- Firearms Examiner Training
- Forensic DNA Education for Law Enforcement Decisionmakers
- What Every Investigator and Evidence Technician Should Know About DNA Evidence
- Principles of Forensic DNA for Officers of the Court
- Law 101: Legal Guide for the Forensic Expert
- Laboratory Orientation and Testing of Body Fluids and Tissues
- DNA Extraction and Quantitation
- STR Data Analysis and Interpretation
- Communication Skills, Report Writing, and Courtroom Testimony
- Español for Law Enforcement
- Amplified DNA Product Separation for Forensic Analysts