In In re C.B. and In re C.H, the Supreme Court today holds that juveniles who were required to submit DNA samples when they were declared wards of the court for felonious conduct could not have their samples and profiles removed from a California Department of Justice databank after their conduct was reclassified under Proposition 47 as misdemeanors for which giving samples is not mandated. Ruling in two consolidated cases, the court’s opinion by Justice Carol Corrigan says the result is compelled by another initiative, Proposition 69, which expanded the DNA databank. Harmonizing the two statutory schemes, the court concludes that the latter does not “authorize[] expungement on the ground that conduct previously deemed a felony is now punished only as a misdemeanor.” The court also rejects an equal protection attack on the harmonized interpretation.
Justice Goodwin Liu signs the court’s opinion, as do all the other justices, but he also writes a brief concurring opinion. He notes that the minors did not make an argument based on a constitutional privacy right, which might yield a different result in a future case.
The court affirms the judgments — one a divided decision — of the First District, Division Three, Court of Appeal. It disapproves a 2015 opinion by the Fourth District, Division One.
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