DA Says Police Used Sexual Assault Victim's DNA Sample To Charge Her With Unrelated Crime

San Francisco CA

15 February, 2022

7:20 PM

Description

By Yujie Zhou, Mission Local February 14, 2022 When sexual assault victims provide DNA to help prosecute their case, they've long been assured that their sample will be destroyed immediately afterward. But, according to a new discovery by the San Francisco District Attorney's Office, the SFPD has been retaining victims' samples indefinitely and potentially using them to charge sexual assault victims with unrelated crimes. "We want to protect the privacy of the sexual assault survivors, and we want them to feel comfortable coming forward. The last thing we want to do is expose them to further trauma," said District Attorney Chesa Boudin this morning at a roundtable discussion. Boudin said his office last week became aware of a case in which a woman who submitted her DNA following a sexual assault was being charged with a felony in a property crime based on that DNA sample. To read the full article, click here. Mission Local covers San Francisco from the vantage point of the Mission, a neighborhood with all of the promise and problems of a major city. You can support Mission Local here.