People v. Buza

Defendant Mark Buza was arrested for arson and related felonies and transported to jail. At booking, a jail official informed defendant that he was required to provide a DNA sample by swabbing the inside of his cheek. He refused. A jury later convicted him of both the arson-related felonies and the misdemeanor offense of refusing to provide a specimen required by the DNA Act. ( Pen. Code, § 298.1, subd. (a).)

The Court of Appeal reversed defendant's misdemeanor refusal conviction, holding that the DNA Act violated defendant's rights under the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution. While the case was pending on appeal, the United States Supreme Court addressed a similar issue in Maryland v. King (2013) 569 U.S. 435 , 133 S.Ct. 1958 , 186 L.Ed.2d 1 ( King ), and reached a different conclusion. The high court held that "[w]hen officers make an arrest supported by probable cause to hold for a serious offense and they bring the suspect to the station to be detained in custody, taking and analyzing a cheek swab of the arrestee's DNA is, like fingerprinting and photographing, a legitimate police booking procedure that is reasonable

Defendant raises a number of questions about the constitutionality of the DNA Act as it applies to various classes of felony arrestees. But the question before us is a narrower one: Whether the statute's DNA collection requirement is valid as applied to an individual who, like defendant, was validly arrested on "probable cause to hold for a serious offense"-here, the felony arson charge for which defendant was ultimately convicted-and who was required to swab his cheek as "part of a routine booking procedure" at county jail. ( King , supra , 569 U.S. at p. 465, 133 S.Ct. 1958 .) Under the circumstances before us, we conclude the requirement is valid under both the federal and state Constitutions, and we express no view on the constitutionality of the DNA Act as it applies to other classes of arrestees. We accordingly reverse the judgment of the Court of Appeal in this case.

A.

For decades before the DNA Act, California law had required the collection of biological samples from individuals convicted of certain offenses. In 1983, the Legislature enacted legislation requiring certain sex offenders to provide blood and saliva samples before their release or discharge. (Stats. 1983, ch. 700, § 1, pp. 2680-2681, codified at Pen. Code, former § 290.2.) In 1998, the

Information obtained from an arrestee's DNA is confidential and may not be disclosed to the public. ( Pen. Code, § 299.5.) DNA

On January 22, 2009, a judge of the Superior Court found probable cause to believe that defendant committed a public offense for which he could be detained, namely, felony arson in violation of Penal Code section 451, subdivision (d). The next day, the district attorney filed a felony complaint charging defendant with that offense, as well as possession of combustible material or incendiary device ( id ., § 453, subd. (a) ), and vandalism ( id ., § 594, subd. (b)(1) ). The complaint also charged defendant with misdemeanor refusal to provide a DNA specimen ( id ., § 298.1, subd. (a) ). Defendant was arraigned on the same day and pleaded not guilty to the charges.

Approximately three months later, defendant was tried before a jury. Defendant moved for judgment of acquittal on the misdemeanor refusal charge, arguing that the Fourth Amendment did not permit the state to compel arrestees to furnish DNA samples. The court denied the motion. At trial, defendant admitted to setting the police car on fire; he testified that while he regarded setting the fires as a justified protest against government overreach, he knew his act was regarded as illegal. Defendant also admitted to refusing to provide a DNA sample in accordance with Penal Code section 298.1. The jury convicted defendant of all charges.

The trial court ordered defendant to provide a DNA sample before he was sentenced, and when defendant initially refused to comply

As the constitutional language itself makes plain, the "touchstone for all

Although these differences between the California and Maryland laws may be relevant in another case involving a differently situated arrestee, this case involves a defendant who was validly arrested on probable cause to believe he had committed felony arson, and who was promptly charged with (and ultimately convicted of) that offense. In the context of the particular case before us, we conclude that none of the differences to which defendant points meaningfully alters the constitutional balance struck in King .

We begin with defendant's first argument, about the scope of the DNA Act's collection requirement. Defendant observes that the Maryland law at issue in King authorized DNA collection only from those accused of specified serious crimes, including a category defined as "crime[s] of violence" under state law, whereas the DNA Act authorizes DNA

There are two elements to this argument: one concerning the timing of the collection, the other concerning the timing

Defendant's point about average processing times is not one that escaped the high court's notice in King ; as noted, the court itself cited the same numbers. The court nevertheless concluded that DNA identification is a reasonable booking procedure, without suggesting that its reasonableness might vary depending on average processing times. The reasons for this are not difficult to discern. For one thing, individual DNA samples may be processed more quickly than average: The court noted the states' submission that some DNA identification samples in California have been processed significantly more quickly than others. ( King , supra , 569 U.S. at p. 454, 133 S.Ct. 1958 .) Moreover, as is often the case in areas of fast-moving technological developments, average processing times are liable to change; the high court had been told that the technological capacity already exists to analyze DNA samples in a matter of minutes, rather than days or weeks, and that technology is likely to become more widespread in the near future. ( Id. at p. 460, 133 S.Ct. 1958 ; see Rapid DNA Act of 2017, Pub.L. No. 115-50 (Aug. 18, 2017) 131 Stat. 1001 ; see also 42 U.S.C. §§ 14131 (a), 14135a.) The court "[took] account of these technical advances" ( King , at p. 460, 133 S.Ct. 1958 ) in evaluating the reasonableness of DNA collection and testing as a means of "prompt identification" ( id . at p. 459, 133 S.Ct. 1958 ). Given all this, we cannot proceed on the assumption that a rule delaying the

Justice Liu suggests that for purposes of deciding reasonableness of an arrestee's search, an arrest should not be considered valid until there has been a judicial determination of its validity. (Dis. opn. of Liu, J., post , 230 Cal.Rptr.3d at pp. 706-710, 413 P.3d at pp. 1153-1156.) There is, however, a meaningful difference between the requirement of a valid arrest and a requirement that a neutral magistrate make such a determination. For example, in the related context of searches incident to arrest-where a valid arrest is also essential-there is no such preapproval requirement. (See United States v. Robinson (1973) 414 U.S. 218 , 219-224, 94 S.Ct. 467 , 38 L.Ed.2d 427 [approving search of the person at time of valid arrest made without warrant]; People v. Brisendine (1975) 13 Cal.3d 528 , 532-534, 119 Cal.Rptr. 315 , 531 P.2d 1099 ( Brisendine ) [approving search for weapons upon a warrantless arrest, under circumstances requiring prolonged proximity to arrestees].) The arrestee may have an exclusionary remedy if the arrest is later determined to have been illegal (see 6 LaFave, Search and Seizure (5th ed. 2012) § 11.4(d), pp. 407-408), but the search's reasonableness does not depend on prior judicial authorization for the arrest. Here, there is no dispute that the arrest was valid. To the extent the dissenting opinions argue for a prophylactic rule delaying the analysis of an arrestee's DNA sample until probable cause for the arrest has been judicially determined, we again note that defendant raised no such argument in the trial court and we decline to decide the constitutional

profile, or both after an arrest has been shown to be invalid or after an arrestee is cleared of charges, or both.

Much the same is true about defendant's concern that the state may indefinitely retain DNA information of a person who, though arrested, has been found innocent of any crime. Defendant contends that a prosecutor may unilaterally block expungement by objecting for any reason, and a trial court likewise may deny expungement in its unconstrained discretion. It is not clear that he is correct on either score. It is true that the DNA Act describes a process that permits prosecutors to file objections to expungement (

Because defendant never sought expungement-and indeed, has never claimed to be entitled to seek expungement, since he was both charged with and ultimately convicted of a qualifying crime-we have no occasion here to resolve any questions that might arise about the implementation of the expungement provisions in other cases. It suffices to note that many of defendant's assertions about the operation of the expungement process are, at this point, necessarily

We evaluate the constitutionality of searches and seizures under our state Constitution by employing the same mode of analysis that the high court applied in King , supra , 569 U.S 435 , 133 S.Ct. 1958 . That is, we determine whether the intrusion on the defendant's expectation of privacy is unreasonable by applying "a general balancing test 'weighing the gravity of the governmental interest or public concern served and the degree to which the [challenged government conduct] advances that concern against the intrusiveness of the interference with individual liberty.' " ( Hill v. National Collegiate Athletic Assn. (1994) 7 Cal.4th 1 , 29-30, 26 Cal.Rptr.2d 834 , 865 P.2d 633 , quoting Ingersoll v. Palmer , supra , 43 Cal.3d at p. 1338, 241 Cal.Rptr. 42 , 743 P.2d 1299 .) Defendant does not argue otherwise. He instead argues that we should reject King 's balancing of these interests as a matter of state constitutional law.

In addressing defendant's argument, we reaffirm several long-established principles. First, the California Constitution is, and has always been, "a document of independent force" ( American Academy of Pediatrics v. Lungren (1997) 16 Cal.4th 307 , 325, 66 Cal.Rptr.2d 210 , 940 P.2d 797 ) that sets forth rights that are in no way "dependent on those guaranteed by the United States Constitution" ( Cal. Const., art. I, § 24 ). "As an historical matter, article I and its Declaration of Rights was viewed as the only available protection for our citizens charged with crimes, because the federal Constitution and its Bill of Rights was initially deemed to apply only to the conduct of the federal government." (

The DNA Act provides that, as of January 1, 2009, all adult felony arrestees "shall provide buccal swab samples, right thumbprints, and a full palm print impression of each hand, and any blood specimens or other biological samples required pursuant to this chapter for law enforcement identification analysis." ( Pen. Code, § 296, subd. (a).) Providing a buccal swab sample requires the arrestee to apply a swab to the inside of his or her cheek to collect the "inner cheek cells of the mouth," which contain DNA. ( Id. , § 295, subd. (e).) The statute provides that these specimens, samples, and print impressions shall be collected "immediately following arrest, or during the booking ... process or as soon as administratively practicable ... but, in any case, prior to release on bail or pending trial or any physical release from confinement or custody." ( Id. , § 296.1, subd. (a)(1)(A).) Refusal to provide any of the required specimens is punishable as a misdemeanor. ( Id. , § 298.1, subd. (a).)

Collected DNA samples are sent to California Department of Justice's DNA Laboratory for forensic analysis. ( Pen. Code, §§ 295, subds. (f), (g), (i)(1)(C), 295.1, subd. (c).) The laboratory uses the samples to create a unique DNA identification profile, using genetic loci that are known as "junk" or "noncoding" DNA, because the loci have no known association with any genetic trait, disease, or predisposition. (See King , supra , 569 U.S. at pp. 442-443, 445, 133 S.Ct. 1958 .) This profile is stored in California's DNA databank. California's DNA databank is part of the Combined DNA Index System (CODIS), a nationwide database that enables law enforcement to search DNA profiles collected from federal, state, and local collection programs. (See ibid. ; Pen. Code, § 299.6, subd. (b) ; Cal. Dept. of Justice (DOJ), Bureau of Forensic Services (BFS), Laboratory Services, DNA Analysis, < https://oag.ca.gov/bfs/services> [as of Apr. 2, 2018].) DNA profiles stored by the DNA Laboratory may be accessed by law enforcement agencies. (

Even before the passage of Proposition 8, this court ordinarily resolved questions about the legality of searches and seizures by construing the Fourth Amendment and article I, section 13 in tandem. (E.g., People v. Triggs (1973) 8 Cal.3d 884 , 892, fn. 5, 106 Cal.Rptr. 408 , 506 P.2d 232 ["At least since the advent of

The DNA Act includes a broad severability provision. The provision specifies that the invalidity of certain provisions or their application "shall not affect other provisions or applications that can be given effect without the invalid provision or application." (Prop. 69, supra , § V, subd. (b).)

B.

On the afternoon of January 21, 2009, a San Francisco police officer saw defendant running away from a police car that had burning tires. Police found defendant hiding nearby and searched him. Matches were found in defendant's pocket, a container of oil was found in his backpack, and a road flare and a bottle containing a liquid that smelled like gasoline were discovered in the area where he had been hiding.

ruling had been overturned by the United States Supreme Court in

identification possible.' " ( Robinson , supra , 47 Cal.4th at p. 1134, 104 Cal.Rptr.3d 727 , 224 P.3d 55 , quoting State v. Dabney (2003) 264 Wis.2d 843 , 663 N.W.2d 366 , 372.) " ' "A genetic code describes a person with far greater precision than a physical description or a name." ' " ( Ibid . ) For that reason, this court upheld an arrest warrant describing the arrestee by only his DNA profile. ( Robinson , at p. 1137, 104 Cal.Rptr.3d 727 , 224 P.3d 55 .)

California law, like federal law, has also recognized that identification of arrestees is not an end in itself; rather, the primary purpose of identification is to facilitate the gathering of information about the arrestee contained in police records, which in turn informs decisions about how to proceed with the arrestee. ( Loder v. Municipal Court , supra , 17 Cal.3d at pp. 866-867, 132 Cal.Rptr. 464 , 553 P.2d 624 [upholding

efficacy of the

The high court explained that, as a general rule, a search is presumptively unreasonable if it is undertaken in the absence of a warrant or individualized suspicion of wrongdoing. ( Vernonia School Dist. 47J v. Acton (1995) 515 U.S. 646 , 652-653, 115 S.Ct. 2386 , 132 L.Ed.2d 564 .) But "[i]n some circumstances, such as '[w]hen faced with special

the privacy rights enjoyed by all Californians under the explicit protection of article I, section 1 of the California Constitution. (See, e.g., Lewis v. Superior Court (2017) 3 Cal.5th 561 , 569, 220 Cal.Rptr.3d 319 , 397 P.3d 1011 .) But our cases have also recognized that safeguards against the wrongful use or disclosure of sensitive information may minimize the privacy intrusion when the government accesses personal information, including sensitive medical information. (E.g., id. at pp. 576-577, 220 Cal.Rptr.3d 319 , 397 P.3d 1011 [upholding the constitutionality of government access to prescription drug record database under article I, section 1 of the California Constitution ].) Here, the DNA Act makes the misuse of a DNA sample a felony, punishable by years of imprisonment and criminal fines. ( Pen. Code, § 299.5.) These strong sanctions substantially reduce the likelihood of an unjustified intrusion on the suspect's privacy. Like the King court, we acknowledge the possibility that technological change might alter the privacy interests at stake, requiring a new constitutional analysis. But we are no more inclined than that court to decide cases on the basis of speculation about future developments that may not come to pass.

Defendant next argues that this court should reject King because article I, section 13, gives arrested suspects greater privacy rights than they possess under the Fourth Amendment. Defendant points to decisions of

Law enforcement agencies, the court explained, "routinely have used scientific advancements in their standard procedures for the identification of arrestees" ( King , supra , 569 U.S. at p. 456, 133 S.Ct. 1958 ), including photographs, body measurements, and fingerprints. The court observed that fingerprinting, in particular, is "[p]erhaps the most direct historical analogue to the DNA technology" at issue in the case ( id. at p. 458, 133 S.Ct. 1958 ): fingerprints have long been taken for purposes of comparison to identify suspects and for purposes of matching them to fingerprints taken from the scene of unsolved crimes, and electronic databases are now available that facilitate the comparison ( id. at pp. 436, 458-459, 133 S.Ct. 1958 ). DNA identification, the court noted, is a "markedly more accurate form of identifying arrestees" and the "additional intrusion upon the arrestee's privacy beyond that associated with fingerprinting is not significant." ( Id. at p. 459, 133 S.Ct. 1958 .) "DNA identification," the court reasoned, "is an advanced technique superior to fingerprinting in many ways, so much so that to insist on fingerprints as the norm would make little sense to either the forensic expert or a layperson." ( Ibid. )

Compared to this set of governmental interests, the high court concluded that the privacy interests at stake were more limited. To begin with,

cases on which defendant relies all turn on a different evaluation of legitimate law enforcement needs when arresting suspects in the field. As relevant here, this court concluded that the rationales for conducting full booking searches before a defendant enters custody do not apply to all persons cited or arrested in the field, since "it is factually demonstrable that a substantial number of the arrestees will never see the inside of a jail cell." ( Longwill , supra , 14 Cal.3d at p. 951, 123 Cal.Rptr. 297 , 538 P.2d 753 .) In each case, we explained, "the same factors are operative: the potential harm to the officer if the arrestee is armed justifies a limited weapons search, but a full booking search is 'inappropriate in the context of an arrestee who will never be subjected to that process.' " ( Id. at p. 950, 123 Cal.Rptr. 297 , 538 P.2d 753 , quoting Brisendine , supra , 13 Cal.3d at p. 547, 119 Cal.Rptr. 315 , 531 P.2d 1099 .)

The question before us, by contrast, does not concern the constitutionality of a booking search conducted immediately upon arrest, but a booking search conducted at the time of booking , and justified by an interest in accurate identification that applies to all persons who are taken into police custody following a valid arrest for a serious offense. Cases concluding that full booking searches are inappropriate for arrestees who will never be booked into jail are thus of limited relevance here.

Finally, defendant argues that even if the differences between the DNA Act and the law at issue in King do not alter the Fourth Amendment analysis, they should alter the state constitutional analysis. For reasons already given, these differences do not change our assessment of the constitutionality of the DNA Act as applied in defendant's case. Officials asked defendant for a DNA sample upon booking, after he was arrested on probable cause for a serious offense, and as he was entering pretrial detention. Under the circumstances before us, the requirement was not unreasonable.

Our holding today is limited. The sole question before us is whether it was reasonable, under either the Fourth Amendment or article I, section 13 of the California Constitution, to require the defendant in this case to swab his cheek as part of a routine jail booking procedure following a valid arrest for felony arson. Because we conclude the requirement was reasonable as applied to defendant, we hold he is subject to the statutory penalties prescribed in Penal Code section 298.1.

least in some circumstances, have a valid as-applied challenge to the adequacy of the DNA Act's expungement procedures or to application of the Act's other operative provisions, in addition to the other remedies available for unlawful arrest. (Cf. People v. McInnis , supra , 6 Cal.3d at p. 826, 100 Cal.Rptr. 618 , 494 P.2d 690 [photograph taken pursuant to an illegal arrest could be shown to a witness asked to identify the perpetrator of a subsequent crime where there was no evidence the police had " 'exploited' " the earlier illegal arrest].) We note that a group of plaintiffs in federal court have already challenged the

The court says that a "valid arrest" in this context does not require "a judicial determination of its validity." (Maj. opn., ante , 230 Cal.Rptr.3d at p. 696, 413 P.3d at p. 1145.) But this assertion, even if true, does not disturb the main premise of the question presented: For purposes of constitutional analysis, Buza is no different than any felony arrestee who has not been charged, convicted, or found by a neutral magistrate to be lawfully detained. This point is critical because it brings into focus the startling breadth of DNA collection and retention authorized by the statute. This is not a scheme carefully calibrated to identify felony offenders. Instead, it can be fairly described as a biological dragnet. As explained below, and for the reasons stated in Justice Cuéllar's dissent, the DNA Act violates the prohibition on unreasonable searches and seizures in the California Constitution.

According to the Office of the Attorney General, there are 200,000 to 300,000 felony arrests in California every year. (Cal. Dept. of Justice, Crime in California 2016 (Aug. 17, 2017) p. 49.) But not all arrests end in convictions; far from it. Here are the Attorney General's data on dispositions of adult felony arrests for each year since 2009, when the DNA Act started requiring all such arrestees to provide DNA samples immediately upon arrest:

Defendant argues, not unreasonably, that we should decide this case in light of the conditions that prevailed at the time he refused to provide the sample, not in light of technological advances that might make it possible to process DNA samples more quickly in the future. But considering the matter from this vantage point does not help defendant's case. If we assume that defendant's sample would not have been processed significantly faster than the average of 30 days, as defendant would have us do, then we would also be bound to conclude that defendant would have, de facto, received the very delay he seeks: The record indicates that a

qualifies the person for inclusion in the state DNA database. ( Pen. Code, § 299, subds. (a), (b).) The Judicial Council of California, pursuant to its reporting obligations under Penal Code section 1170.45, has reported that from 2009 to 2016, between 15 and 20 percent of felony arrestees had no criminal record, between 14 and 19 percent had one or more prior prison commitments, and around 66 percent had a criminal record with no prior prison commitment (so-called " 'miscellaneous' " records), a category that presumably includes arrestees with only misdemeanor convictions for which DNA collection is not authorized. (See, e.g., Jud. Council of Cal., Disposition of Criminal Cases According to the Race and Ethnicity of the Defendant (Sept. 20, 2017) p. 15 (Disposition of Criminal Cases) [15 percent of felony arrestees in 2016 had no criminal record, 19 percent had one or more prior prison commitments, 66 percent had miscellaneous records]; Jud. Council of Cal., Disposition of Criminal Cases According to the Race and Ethnicity of the Defendant (2011) [20 percent of felony arrestees in 2009 had no criminal record, 14 percent had one or more prior prison commitments, 66 percent had miscellaneous records].) The percentage of felony arrestees with no prior convictions or only misdemeanor convictions is likely higher among those who are not charged or not convicted than among felony arrestees overall. Thus, even assuming that a substantial portion of the 724,492 arrests from 2009 to 2016 that resulted in no conviction involved persons with a prior (or subsequent) qualifying offense, there are tens if not hundreds of thousands of individuals who have been required to provide DNA samples that the state has no legal basis for retaining.

The statute sets forth a process for expungement, but this process is not adequate to allay constitutional concerns. In contrast to the automatic expungement provisions of the state law at issue in

This brings us to defendant's final point, concerning the adequacy of the DNA Act's expungement procedures. As defendant notes, under the Maryland law at issue in King , an arrestee who is later exonerated is entitled to automatic destruction of his or her DNA sample and associated records. ( King , supra , 569 U.S. at pp. 443-444, 133 S.Ct. 1958 .) Under the DNA Act, by contrast, an exonerated arrestee ordinarily must file a written request for expungement of

found factually innocent, the defendant has been found not guilty, the defendant has been acquitted of the underlying offense, or the underlying conviction has been reversed and the case dismissed. [¶] (C) Proof of written notice to the prosecuting attorney and the Department of Justice that expungement has been requested. [¶] (D) A court order verifying that no retrial or appeal of the case is pending, that it has been at least 180 days since the defendant or minor has notified the prosecuting attorney and the Department of Justice of the expungement request, and that the court has not received an objection from the Department of Justice or the prosecuting attorney." ( Id. , subd. (c)(2).)

The extensive documentation, notice to multiple parties, judicial hearing, and additional steps required for expungement place a significant burden on eligible persons, assuming they are even aware of the process. In addition, although the statute says a person whose arrest resulted in no charge or conviction "shall have his or her DNA specimen and sample destroyed and searchable database profile expunged" if the state has "no legal basis for retaining" them ( Pen. Code, § 299, subd. (a) ), the statute also says: "The court has the discretion to grant or deny the request for expungement. The denial of a request for expungement is a nonappealable order and shall not be reviewed by

Again, the ordinary rule is "that one will not be heard to attack a statute on grounds that are not shown to be applicable to himself." ( Cregler , supra , 56 Cal.2d at p. 313, 14 Cal.Rptr. 289 , 363 P.2d 305 .) Further, "a court will not consider every conceivable situation which might arise under the language of the statute and will not consider the question of constitutionality with reference to hypothetical situations." ( Ibid. ) By focusing on the facts presented by the case before us, we avoid premature judgment of constitutional questions, including " 'premature interpretatio[n] of statutes' on the basis of factually bare-bones records." ( Sabri , supra , 541 U.S. at p. 609, 124 S.Ct. 1941 , quoting United States v. Raines (1960) 362 U.S. 17 , 22, 80 S.Ct. 519 , 4 L.Ed.2d 524 .)

Restraint is particularly warranted here because much of defendant's argument depends on assertions about the workings of the expungement procedures that are as yet untested and unproved. The record before us reveals nothing, for example, about how the expungement provisions operate in a case in which a judge finds no probable cause to support the arrest. The statute does make clear that a person who is found to have been wrongly arrested is entitled to expungement:

[February statistics as of Mar. 28, 2018] ["DNA Laboratory Monthly Statistics, pdf"].) As of December 2008, the DNA Laboratory had removed 22,269 DNA samples from its inventory since the program began; these removals include "Expunged, Removed or Failed Samples, or where a New Sample was Requested." (Appellees' Response to Appellants' Request for Judicial Notice; Supplemental Request for Judicial Notice and Supporting Declaration of Daniel J. Powell, Haskell v. Harris (filed Sept. 20, 2012, 9th Cir. case No. 10-15152) docket #103, Ex. A, p. 24; see Haskell v. Harris (9th Cir. 2014) 745 F.3d 1269 (en banc).) Even if we assume that all reported removals are expungements, the total number of expungements from January 2009, when the current DNA law went into effect, until February 2018 would be only 22,045-i.e., the difference between 44,314 (the total number of removals through February 2018) and 22,269 (the total number of removals through December 2008). This is a small fraction of the large population of individuals since 2009 whose felony arrests have resulted in no charge or conviction, and who have no other basis for inclusion in the state DNA database. It is questionable whether the vast majority of people entitled to expungement even know about the process much less know how to navigate it. Indeed, we have no indication that any responsible official is ever required to inform an arrestee about the expungement process.

The state's retention of DNA is troubling not only because of its sheer magnitude but also because it predictably burdens certain groups. African Americans, who are 6.5 percent of California's population, made up 20.3 percent of adult felony arrestees in 2016. (U.S. Census Bureau, QuickFacts: California (July 1, 2016) < https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/CA> [as of Apr. 2, 2018]; Crime in California 2016, supra , at p. 36.) Yet they comprised 24.3 percent of felony arrestees who were released by law enforcement or the prosecuting attorney in 2016 before any court disposition. (Disposition of Criminal Cases, supra , at p. 10.) Non-Hispanic whites, by contrast, comprised 31.2 percent of felony arrestees but only 27.0 percent of felony arrestees released by law enforcement or the prosecuting attorney. (Crime in California 2016, supra , at p. 36; Disposition of Criminal Cases, supra , at p. 10.) The fact that felony arrests of African Americans disproportionately result in no charges or dropped charges means that African Americans are disproportionately represented among the thousands of DNA profiles that the state has no legal basis for retaining.

Penal Code section 297, subdivision (c)(2) provides an alternative route for expungement: "The law enforcement investigating agency submitting a specimen, sample, or print impression to the DNA Laboratory of the Department of Justice or law enforcement

found invalid; such DNA may be retained and used by law enforcement so long as there is no request for expungement.

The court further contends that "whatever apprehension defendant might have had about the adequacy of the Act's protections for individuals who are found to have been wrongly arrested, for example, would certainly have been mitigated by his own knowledge of the circumstances of his arrest. (Here, the record shows that defendant knew from the outset that he had been apprehended in the act of setting fire to the tires of a police car and anticipated that he would be prosecuted for his acts, to which he would later confess at trial. (See fn. 4, ante .) ) .... [¶] Not all arrestees will

Such broad-based policies would similarly aid law enforcement while having the virtue of being less discriminatory in their effects.

Indeed, the court's analogy to fingerprinting, a less invasive and less powerful technology, should give us pause. (Maj. opn., ante , 230 Cal.Rptr.3d at pp. 703-705, 413 P.3d at pp. 1150-1152 ; see dis. opn. of Cuéllar, J., post , 230 Cal.Rptr.3d at pp. 728-730, 413 P.3d at pp. 1171-1173.) State law already requires individuals to provide a fingerprint in order to get a driver's license ( Veh. Code, § 12800, subd. (c) ), to become a school teacher ( Ed. Code, § 44340 ), to be a professional engineer ( Cal. Code Regs., tit. 16, § 420.1 ), to be a practicing attorney ( Bus. & Prof. Code, § 6054, subd. (b) ), or to join many other occupations ( id. , § 144 [requiring "a full set of fingerprints for purposes of conducting criminal history record checks" from applicants to 29 state licensing boards, including nurses, pharmacists, physicians, court reporters, funeral directors, guide dog instructors, contractors, and accountants] ). These requirements serve important public safety and law enforcement purposes. But if DNA matching is constitutionally justified by its unparalleled efficacy in serving the " 'same' " identification " 'function' " as fingerprinting (maj. opn.,

As Justice Cuéllar notes, today's opinion provides no convincing rationale for why our analytical approach to a state constitutional issue should depend on "the order in which this court decides an issue vis-à -vis the high court." (Dis. opn. of Cuéllar, J., post , 230 Cal.Rptr.3d at p. 722, 413 P.3d at p. 1166.) The court's response is that "in instances where this court had previously decided an issue, that decision carried the persuasive force of stare decisis we always accord our own precedents, which had then to be balanced against the persuasive force of the contrary United States Supreme Court decision. In instances where we had not previously decided an issue, no similar counterbalance existed." (Maj. opn., ante , 230 Cal.Rptr.3d at p. 702, fn. 9, 413 P.3d at p. 1150 fn. 9.) But this statement of the obvious misses the point. It does not explain why our approach should be different

Defendant argues there are several such reasons. To begin with, he argues that King should be rejected because its central premise is faulty. King concluded that DNA collection from persons arrested for serious offenses serves a legitimate governmental interest in safely and accurately processing and identifying the persons they take into custody. Defendant argues, however, that arrestee DNA information is not used to determine an arrestee's identity, but "solely for investigation of possible other crimes." Echoing the dissenting opinion in King ( supra , 569 U.S. at pp. 467-469, 133 S.Ct. 1958 (dis. opn. of Scalia, J.) ), defendant argues that gathering DNA information for this purpose is unreasonable in the absence of a warrant or individualized suspicion.

In evaluating defendant's argument, we do not write on a blank slate. As noted, in Robinson , supra , 47 Cal.4th 1104 , 104 Cal.Rptr.3d 727 , 224 P.3d 55 , this court upheld

high court issues a federal constitutional ruling, state courts "shall be bound thereby, any Thing in the Constitution or Laws of any State to the Contrary notwithstanding." ( U.S. Const., art. VI, cl. 2.) But that is not a reason for state courts to treat

As counsel confirmed at oral argument, defendant does not dispute that it is reasonable for officers to check an arrestee's fingerprints against "electronic databases of known criminals and unsolved crimes." ( King , supra , 569 U.S. at p. 451, 133 S.Ct. 1958 .) This, he says, is because fingerprints are capable of serving a "genuine" identification purpose, while a DNA profile is not. To be sure, a DNA profile is not, at least under present technological conditions, generated immediately or nearly immediately, in the manner of fingerprints. But as the high court noted in King , the immediate availability of fingerprints for identification purposes is also a relatively recent development; before the FBI introduced its electronic fingerprint database in 1999, processing fingerprint submissions often took " 'weeks or months.' " ( Id. at p. 459, 133 S.Ct. 1958 .) Such delays have not been thought to undermine the basic identification purposes of the information. (See, e.g., United States v. Kelly (2d Cir. 1932) 55 F.2d 67 , 69, 70 ["Finger printing seems to be no more than an extension of methods of identification long used in dealing with persons under arrest for real or supposed violations...." "It can really be objected to only because it may furnish strong evidence of a man's guilt."].)

As the high court explained in King , "[t]he question of how long it takes to process identifying information obtained from a valid search goes only to the

In each of these instances, we interpreted the guarantees of our state constitution without according any deference or presumption of correctness to high court precedent. And on each of these issues, the high court eventually overruled its precedent and adopted as a matter of federal law the rule we had adopted as a matter of state law. (See Mapp v. Ohio (1961) 367 U.S. 643 , 651-653, 81 S.Ct. 1684 , 6 L.Ed.2d 1081 [overruling Wolf and citing Cahan ]; Batson v. Kentucky (1986) 476 U.S. 79 , 82-82 & fn. 1, 106 S.Ct. 1712 , 90 L.Ed.2d 69 1986) [overruling Swain and citing Wheeler ]; Obergefell v. Hodges (2015) 576 U.S. ----, ----, ----, [ 135 S.Ct. 2584 , 2605, 2610], 192 L.Ed.2d 609 [overruling Baker and citing In re Marriage Cases ].) These examples show how the exercise of independent judgment by state courts in our system of judicial federalism provides a crucial safeguard for constitutional rights.

Instead of looking to these examples, today's opinion cites Gabrielli v. Knickerbocker (1938) 12 Cal.2d 85 , 82 P.2d 391 , which rejected a state constitutional challenge to a law requiring schoolchildren to salute and pledge allegiance to the flag. (Maj. opn., ante , 230 Cal.Rptr.3d at p. 701, 413 P.3d at p. 1149.) I would not rely on such dubious precedent. Whatever may be said about the merits of the issue, the court's analysis in Gabrielli consists of little more than uncritical acceptance of United States Supreme Court decisions that had rejected similar claims under the federal Constitution. (See Gabrielli , at p. 89, 82 P.2d 391 ["[C]ogent reasons

Defendant also argues that we should reject King as a matter of state constitutional law because King "ignored the highly sensitive nature of the genetic data contained in the collected DNA," and "did not address what federal circuit courts have recognized as the more significant privacy implications posed by the state's subsequent analysis and retention of the sensitive information contained in DNA." The criticism is misplaced. Contrary to defendant's characterization, the court in King recognized that the privacy interests at stake extended beyond the "minimally invasive" physical collection of the DNA sample by buccal swab. ( King , supra , 569 U.S. at p. 460, 133 S.Ct. 1958 .) As noted above, the court acknowledged concerns about the genetic information contained in the collected DNA and its subsequent analysis. It explained that CODIS testing is designed to reveal nothing more about the arrestee than his or her identity, and that state law forbade the use of DNA information for nonidentification purposes. ( Id. at pp. 464-465, 133 S.Ct. 1958 .) But the court acknowledged that if scientific advances or other developments mean that CODIS testing will now lead to discovery of personal medical information, a new Fourth Amendment analysis will be required. ( Ibid. )

We, too, are mindful of the heightened privacy interests in the sensitive information that can be extracted from a person's DNA. These interests implicate not only article I, section 13, but

In California people are protected not only by federal constitutional guarantees against unreasonable searches or seizures, but by state constitutional provisions governing privacy and prohibiting arbitrary coercion. These protections require courts to distinguish between routine lawful procedures, such as those governing collection of biological samples from convicts, and arbitrary commands purporting to force people who have not been convicted of anything to surrender their most private information. (See Riley v. California (2014) 573 U.S. ----, ----, [ 134 S.Ct. 2473 , 2488], 189 L.Ed.2d 430 ( Riley ) ["Not every search 'is acceptable solely because a person is in custody.' "]; White v. Davis (1975) 13 Cal.3d 757 , 766, 120 Cal.Rptr. 94 , 533 P.2d 222 ( White ) ["The inherent legitimacy of the police 'intelligence gathering' function does not grant the police the unbridled power to pursue that function by any and all means. In this realm, as in all others, the permissible limits of governmental action are circumscribed by the federal Bill of Rights and the comparable protections of our state Constitution."].) Yet the majority today sanctions the collection and analysis of DNA samples from all adults arrested on felony charges-fully one-third of all arrestees-regardless of whether those individuals will ever be charged with a crime or, if charged, ever convicted. As Justice Liu explains in more detail, over half of these individuals are released before a judicial determination of probable cause. But at whatever point the arrestees are released, their DNA sample stays with the government until the expungement process, which burdens individuals and is contingent rather than automatic, runs its course if it ever does.

For all these individuals, the majority provides no protection-except to say that if they are exonerated, they may file written requests for the expungement of their DNA records. In so holding, the majority sidesteps the problems associated with the collection and expungement procedures of Proposition 69, the DNA Fingerprint, Unsolved Crime and Innocence Protection Act (DNA Act or the Act). It contends that the scope of the legitimate privacy rights of persons arrested is no different under our constitution than under the Fourth Amendment to the federal Constitution and, by implication, that our own constitution plays no role in determining whether the rights of a California citizen subjected to a search of his person and collection of his DNA have been violated. I cannot agree.

Our state Constitution provides heightened protections for the privacy rights of individuals, including arrestees. Those protections do not vanish merely because someone is arrested. An arrest itself requires probable cause-

But what motivated these decisions was not principally a difference in opinion with the federal courts about the scope of legitimate privacy rights of persons subject to custodial arrest. California law and federal law alike recognize that an arrestee has reduced privacy interests upon being taken into police custody, but that reduced privacy interests do not mean zero privacy interests-which is to say, "[n]ot every search 'is acceptable solely because a person is in custody.' " ( Riley v. California , supra , 134 S.Ct. at p. 2488, quoting King , supra , 569 U.S. at p. 463, 133 S.Ct. 1958 .) Rather, the

justify a variety of investigative activities without probable cause-from routine patrol of a particular geographic location to following up on tips or information from undercover agents. (E.g., Kyllo v. United States (2001) 533 U.S. 27 , 31-32, 121 S.Ct. 2038 , 150 L.Ed.2d 94 ( Kyllo ) [reiterating the "lawfulness of warrantless

The California Constitution is not some minor codicil to the United States Constitution. As the majority has no choice but to acknowledge (maj. opn., ante , 230 Cal.Rptr.3d at pp. 700-701, 413 P.3d at p. 1148), our state Constitution is a document of "independent force," whose meaning is to be independently distilled and propagated by this court, acting in our authority as the state court of last resort. ( Cal. Const., art. I, § 24 [making explicit that "[r]ights guaranteed by this Constitution are not dependent on those guaranteed by the United States Constitution"]; People v. Brisendine (1975) 13 Cal.3d 528 , 549-550, 119 Cal.Rptr. 315 , 531 P.2d 1099 ( Brisendine ) ["the California Constitution is, and always has been, a document of independent force"]; People v. Longwill (1975) 14 Cal.3d 943 , 951, fn. 4, 123 Cal.Rptr. 297 , 538 P.2d 753 ( Longwill ) [stating that "in the area of fundamental civil liberties," "we sit as a court of last resort" and "our first referent is California law and the full panoply

freedom of speech under the First Amendment, but does indeed implicate such a right under article I [of our state Constitution]"].)

What's more, within the specific context of search and seizure of arrestees, we have been quite explicit in holding that article I, section 13 provides greater protection than does the Fourth Amendment. ( Brisendine , supra , 13 Cal.3d at pp. 545-546, 119 Cal.Rptr. 315 , 531 P.2d 1099 ; Longwill , supra , 14 Cal.3d at p. 951 & fn. 4, 123 Cal.Rptr. 297 , 538 P.2d 753 ; People v. Norman (1975) 14 Cal.3d 929 , 939, 123 Cal.Rptr. 109 , 538 P.2d 237 ( Norman ); People v. Ruggles (1985) 39 Cal.3d 1 , 9-11, 216 Cal.Rptr. 88 , 702 P.2d 170 ( Ruggles ); see also People v. Laiwa (1983) 34 Cal.3d 711 , 727, 195 Cal.Rptr. 503 , 669 P.2d 1278 ( Laiwa ).) In those cases, we have emphasized that article I, section 13"requires a more exacting standard" for search and seizure cases arising in this state. ( Brisendine , supra , 13 Cal.3d at p. 545, 119 Cal.Rptr. 315 , 531 P.2d 1099 .) We've also rejected the notion-which the United States Supreme Court has embraced-that an individual subject to custodial arrest has significantly diminished expectations of privacy. ( Id. at p. 547, 119 Cal.Rptr. 315 , 531 P.2d 1099 ["we cannot accept ... that 'an individual lawfully subjected to a custodial arrest retains no significant Fourth Amendment interest in the privacy of his person' "].) Even full custodial arrest, booking, and incarceration do not authorize the police to search an arrestee in the hope of discovering evidence of a more serious crime. (See Laiwa , supra , 34 Cal.3d at pp. 727-728, 195 Cal.Rptr. 503 , 669 P.2d 1278 .) What these authorities

( Id. at table 37, p. 49.) These data show that from 2009 to 2016, nearly one in five felony arrests did not result in prosecution, and almost one in three-a total of 724,492 arrests-did not result in a conviction.

Each of those arrests triggered the requirement to provide a DNA sample. Yet the state has no legal basis for retaining the DNA sample or profile if no charges are filed, if the charges are dismissed, if the person is acquitted or found not guilty or factually innocent, or if the conviction is reversed and the case is dismissed, unless there is some other basis such as a prior

majority's purported "reaffirm[ation]" of "long-established principles" that the rights guaranteed by our state Constitution "are in no way 'dependent on those guaranteed by the United States Constitution.' " (Maj. opn., ante , 230 Cal.Rptr.3d at p. 700, 413 P.3d at p. 1148.) If the rights of our citizens are not dependent on the federal Constitution, then our analytical route for determining what those rights are should not take a different course simply because the United States Supreme Court issued an opinion before we did.

decisis"-inverting the concept to justify departures from California decisions governing the scope of state privacy protection.

Those decisions underscore how adopting King 's approach would be at odds with article I, section 1 of California's Constitution. And it would be at odds with our case law construing that provision and emphasizing the importance of informational and dignitary privacy interests under California law. In contrast to its federal counterpart, the California Constitution contains an express statement about the importance of personal privacy: "All people are by nature free and independent and have inalienable rights. Among these are enjoying and defending life and liberty, acquiring, possessing, and protecting property, and pursuing and obtaining safety, happiness, and privacy." ( Cal. Const., art. I § 1.) True: we have previously found that article I, section 1 does not by itself confer a privacy right substantively different from what article I, section 13 purports to protect. ( People v. Crowson (1983) 33 Cal.3d 623 , 629, 190 Cal.Rptr. 165 , 660 P.2d 389 .) But neither have we held that this language is devoid of meaning when considered together with that of article I, section 13.

The reason we have not so held is because the most sensible reading of the California Constitution would assign both importance and meaning to its mention of personal privacy. Even if the language in article I does not create a separate class of privacy rights, at a minimum this reference underscores how certain infringements of personal privacy deserve heightened scrutiny in our search and seizure analysis relative to what the federal analysis requires. Our cases construing article I, section 1 in relation to the federal Constitution reinforce this conclusion. What we have emphasized is that the scope of the state constitutional right of privacy is broader

potential collection, stockpiling, and use of individuals' most personal information in an arbitrary and unjustified fashion. (Ballot Pamp., Gen. Elec. (Nov. 7, 1972) argument in favor of Prop. 11, p. 27 (Article I, section 1 Ballot Pamp.) [privacy initiative targeted the "collecting and stockpiling [of] unnecessary information ... and misusing information

The court says it need not consider the adequacy of the expungement process because Buza was "charged with and ultimately convicted of a qualifying crime." (Maj. opn., ante , 230 Cal.Rptr.3d at p. 699, 413 P.3d at p. 1147.) But the question is whether it was constitutional to require Buza to provide his DNA after his arrest on January 21, 2009- before he was charged or convicted. In answering this question, it certainly matters how his DNA would be analyzed, used, and retained, and we must address these considerations from the vantage point that existed at the time Buza was required to provide his DNA. (See People v. Gale (1973) 9 Cal.3d 788 , 795, 108 Cal.Rptr. 852 , 511 P.2d 1204 [" 'The question of the reasonableness of the officers' conduct is determined on the basis of the information possessed by the officer at the time a decision to act is made .' "].) We cannot ignore the (in)adequacy of expungement-the statute's only safeguard against overbroad retention-based on the fortuity that Buza turned out to be guilty. (See McDonald v. United States (1948) 335 U.S. 451 , 453, 69 S.Ct. 191 , 93 L.Ed. 153 [the "guarantee of protection against unreasonable searches and seizures extends to the innocent and guilty alike"].)

In addition, the court says collecting DNA from an arrestee before a judge has determined the validity of the arrest is analogous to a search incident to arrest, "where a valid arrest is also essential [and] there is no such preapproval requirement." (Maj. opn., ante , 230 Cal.Rptr.3d at p. 696, 413 P.3d at p. 1145.) But a search incident to arrest is justified and limited by the immediate need to "protect[ ] arresting officers and safeguard[ ] any evidence of the offense of arrest that an arrestee might conceal or destroy." ( Arizona v. Gant (2009) 556 U.S. 332 , 339, 129 S.Ct. 1710 , 173 L.Ed.2d 485 .) DNA collection upon arrest does not serve any similarly pressing purpose. (Dis. opn. of Cuéllar, J., post , 230 Cal.Rptr.3d at pp. 724-726, 413 P.3d at pp. 1169-1170 [it takes around 30 days to generate an identification profile from an arrestee's DNA sample].) Moreover, when an arrest is later found invalid by a neutral magistrate, a search incident to the arrest is deemed unlawful, and the evidence obtained is subject to suppression. (See People v. Macabeo (2016) 1 Cal.5th 1206 , 1219, 211 Cal.Rptr.3d 34 , 384 P.3d 1189 .) The DNA Act does not deem unlawful the collection of DNA pursuant to an arrest that is later

Ultimately, the majority's approach to constitutional federalism fails to do justice to the importance of state constitutional rights. The majority does not appear to reject the well-

processed into jail, or shortly thereafter. In fact, the Attorney General acknowledges that "in many cases" an arrestee is released from custody before the State obtains his or her DNA profile. So, it seems unlikely that DNA collection actually furthers any of these identification interests; the government even acknowledges that it uses fingerprints , not DNA, to aid most of these decisions and that fingerprinting "plays the lead role in confirming who a person is." Law enforcement officials are able to collect fingerprints promptly, compare them against an electronic database composed of prints from various sources-including former arrestees but also civil sources such as persons who have served or are serving in the United States military, or have been or are employed by the federal government-and obtain a response as to any "hits" within approximately 27 minutes. (FBI, Integrated Automated Fingerprint Identification System archived at < https:// web.archive.org/web/20120921125141/http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/cjis/fingerprints_biometrics/iafis/iafis/> [as of Apr. 2, 2018].) In short, it seems that DNA collection does little to meaningfully further the State's asserted interests in establishing an arrestee's identity and making various intake and processing decisions.

The majority acknowledges that there may be a delay of "weeks or months" between the initial booking and when a DNA profile is generated. (Maj. opn., ante , 230 Cal.Rptr.3d at pp. 703-705, 413 P.3d at pp. 1151-1152.) Nonetheless, it asserts that governmental interest in identifying arrestees is unaffected because information from an DNA profile-

I conclude with a few words about the court's approach to state constitutional analysis against the backdrop of King . Today's opinion affirms that "the California Constitution is, and has always been, 'a document of independent force' [citation] that sets forth rights that are in no way 'dependent on those guaranteed by the United States Constitution' ( Cal. Const., art. I, § 24 )." (Maj. opn., ante , 230 Cal.Rptr.3d at p. 700, 413 P.3d at p. 1148.) And the court is correct that "although

the United States nor California offers evidence to suggest that their concerns are based on actual experience"].)

Instead of the supposed interests tied to the initial arrest and booking, the most plausible justification for the present DNA collection is that it aids in identifying arrestees who may have been perpetrators of unsolved crimes. Proposition 69 was titled the "DNA Fingerprint, Unsolved Crime and Innocence Protection Act." Ballot arguments in favor of the initiative relied heavily on the promise that DNA collection would increase the likelihood of solving cold cases and help police investigations. (See Ballot Pamp., Gen. Elec. (Nov. 2, 2004) argument in favor of Prop. 69.) For instance, those arguments referenced a number of murders that had been solved based in part on DNA evidence and promised that the DNA Act would help "solve crime, free those wrongfully accused, and stop serial killers." (Ballot Pamp., Gen. Elec. (Nov. 2, 2004) text of Prop. 69, p. 62.) Likewise, the findings section of the proposed law declared that it would "solve crime[s]," "apprehend perpetrators," expand the number of "cold hits and criminal investigation links," and thereby "substantially reduce the number of unsolved crimes." ( Id. at p. 135.)

The Attorney General's arguments in defense of the DNA Act suffer essentially the same malady. Most of the government's justifications for the DNA Act that the Attorney General emphasizes-even those couched in terms of "identity"-pivot on generalized concerns about crime-solving. For instance, the Attorney General argues that since the DNA Act was enacted, the State has recorded more than 31,000 "hits" between identification profiles taken from arrestees and DNA stored from unsolved cases. The government argues that DNA identification yields "substantial benefits" for law enforcement, and illustrates the point by referencing cold cases that were solved after many years when DNA evidence was collected and linked to the unsolved matter. The government also argues that the "benefits" from the DNA Act include deterrence, insofar as a potential criminal is aware that the Act enhances law enforcement's capacity to identify the perpetrators of crimes and prosecute them.

Moreover, the court fundamentally missteps in attributing its deferential reading of King to " 'the fact that to [the high court] has been committed, by the consent of the states, the ultimate vindication of liberty and property against arbitrary and unconstitutional state legislation.' " (Maj. opn., ante , 230 Cal.Rptr.3d at p. 701, 413 P.3d at p. 1149.) It is of course true that the United States Supreme Court serves as a backstop against state infringements on constitutional rights, and when the

valid. (See Ingersoll , supra , 43 Cal.3d at pp. 1327-1328, 241 Cal.Rptr. 42 , 743 P.2d 1299 .) Such individualized suspicion is

have refused to allow the fact of arrest to justify the warrantless

What the parties in this case have asked us to decide is whether the DNA Act's provisions requiring collection from all adult felony arrestees violate article I, section 13 of the California Constitution. So we begin by considering our state Constitution, its relationship to the federal charter, and where the two diverge.

Construing a different statute and a different constitution, the high court in King decided that the Fourth Amendment permits-in some instances-collections of DNA from adults arrested for serious crimes. ( King , supra , 569 U.S. at p. 446, 133 S.Ct. 1958 .) Although such a decision merits "respectful consideration" when its analysis is relevant, our own constitution deserves far more than that. In deciding whether our own state Constitution provides protection against the search or seizure at issue, we are not only free, but obligated, to perform an independent analysis. ( People v. Teresinski (1982) 30 Cal.3d 822 , 835-836, 180 Cal.Rptr. 617 , 640 P.2d 753 ( Teresinski ) ["[T]he California courts, in interpreting the Constitution of this state, are not bound by federal precedent construing the parallel federal text. ... [T]he state courts, in interpreting constitutional guarantees contained in state constitutions, are independently responsible for safeguarding the rights of their citizens." (internal quotation marks omitted) ].) Because of our precedent interpreting the scope of article I, section 13 and the relevance of article I, section 1's explicit protection of privacy, our constitution is more solicitous of the privacy interests of arrestees than the Fourth Amendment.

hands of law enforcement authorities a sample that can be preserved and from which it is possible to extract information beyond a simple BAC reading." ( Ibid. ) As such, "[e]ven if the law enforcement agency is precluded from testing the blood for any purpose other than to measure BAC, the potential remains and may result in anxiety for the person tested." ( Ibid. ) In contrast, "breath tests are capable of revealing only one bit of information, the amount of alcohol in the subject's breath." ( Id. at p. 2177.)

Breath tests are like fingerprints, and DNA samples, like blood. Fingerprints reveal only limited bytes of information. Not so with DNA. DNA samples contain a wealth of genetic information, which would make an individual nervous about possible violations of his or her privacy as long as the information remains in the state's possession. The Supreme Court had no trouble distinguishing between breath and blood tests, finding one constitutional and the other not. We likewise would do well not to ignore the distinction between DNA analysis and fingerprinting.

Nor should we ignore that fingerprinting remains available to advance many of the very interests that allegedly support the DNA Act. The existence of fingerprints as a fast and accurate means to ascertain the identity of an arrestee further diminishes the state's interest in identifying

We have done so in a variety of cases, where we concluded that California's Constitution extends protections to our citizens well beyond those the high court has announced in the federal context. ( Raven v. Deukmejian (1990) 52 Cal.3d 336 , 353-354, 276 Cal.Rptr. 326 , 801 P.2d 1077 ( Raven ) [listing the "numerous decisions" from this court "interpreting the state Constitution as extending protection to our citizens beyond the limits imposed by the high court under the federal Constitution"]; see also, Longwill , supra , 14 Cal.3d at pp. 951-952, 123 Cal.Rptr. 297 , 538 P.2d 753 [holding that our state charter, unlike the federal Constitution, does not allow for carte blanche "full body searches of all individuals subjected to custodial arrest"]; People v. Maher (1976) 17 Cal.3d 196 , 198-203, 130 Cal.Rptr. 508 , 550 P.2d 1044 [concluding, as in Longwill , that "the search of [an arrestee's] person beyond the scope of a pat-down was unlawful under article I, section 13, of the California Constitution"]; People v. Cook (1978) 22 Cal.3d 67 , 88, 148 Cal.Rptr. 605 , 583 P.2d 130 [holding that because a Supreme Court's decision "would afford our citizens less protection than is guaranteed to them under California law," it is "not to be followed in California" and that "all challenges to the veracity of a search warrant affidavit in our courts are to be governed by [our own precedent] and article I, section 13, of the California Constitution"]; Gerawan Farming, Inc. v. Lyons (2000) 24 Cal.4th 468 , 476, 101 Cal.Rptr.2d 470 , 12 P.3d 720 ["the marketing order in question does not implicate any right to

physical collection of DNA samples understates the invasion at issue in this case. The DNA Act is unusual in that it effects more than one intrusion into a person's privacy and autonomy: the intrusion occurs not only when the arrestee is physically subjected to the DNA collection, but also when his biological sample is processed to create a DNA profile, stored indefinitely in federal and state databases, and potentially analyzed in the future when conducting comparisons against newly obtained samples. This continuing intrusion makes the DNA Act's search unlike other ordinary searches and seizures, as the potential infringement on an individual's privacy is ongoing.

The second intrusion-the processing, storage, and comparison of an individual's DNA sample-is a far more significant invasion of an arrestee's privacy. That one's DNA reveals much of a person's most private, closely guarded information is difficult to dispute. A DNA sample stored by the state contains an arrestee's entire genetic code-information that has the capacity to reveal the individual's race, biological sex, ethnic background, familial relationships, behavioral characteristics, health status, genetic diseases, predisposition to certain traits, and even the propensity to engage in violent or criminal behavior. (See United States v. Kriesel (9th Cir. 2013) 720 F.3d 1137 , 1149, 1159-1160 [citing Krimsky & Simoncelli, Genetic Justice (2010) at pp. 231-232]; see also

The majority wisely avoids debating such principles. Instead, it seeks to limit relevance of cases like Brisendine , Longwill , Norman , and Laiwa by asserting that they all concern "the constitutionality of a [field] search conducted immediately upon arrest," and not, as was the case with petitioner Mark Buza, a search "conducted at the time of booking ." (See maj. opn., ante , 230 Cal.Rptr.3d at p. 706, 413 P.3d at p. 1153.) Yet it is far from clear why it should matter that these authorities concern searches done in the field. We

regardless of the way that the government uses it. That the government retains access to a person's most private, sensitive genetic information-and the risks implicit in such access-constitutes a violation in itself, even if the government does not presently wring from the DNA all the flows of information to be found there. ( Ibid. ; see also United States v. Jones , 565 U.S. 400 , 415-416, 132 S.Ct. 945 , 181 L.Ed.2d 911 (conc. opn. of Sotomayor, J.) [finding continuous GPS monitoring to be an unconstitutional search in part because of the risk that the government "[could] store such records and efficiently mine them for information years into the future"].)

Moreover, it is precisely this kind of intrusion that justifies California's heightened privacy protections in the first place. As discussed above, the purpose of the constitutional grant of privacy is to protect citizens from governmental surveillance and other forms of information gathering. The DNA Act permits the government to store DNA with the potential to reveal information of an indisputably private nature. Article I, section 13 of our state Constitution-as informed by the privacy clause of article I, section 1 -protects against such an invasion of core privacy. (See Ruggles , supra , 39 Cal.3d at pp. 9-10, 216 Cal.Rptr. 88 , 702 P.2d 170 .)

Furthermore, that the DNA Act invades the privacy of arrestees in particular does not mean we can ignore the resulting privacy invasion-or the risks associated with it. We have rejected the premise that an individual placed under arrest-even custodial arrest-lacks a significant, constitutionally protected interest in the privacy of her person. We have done so for good reason: valid justification to arrest an individual for a specific offense does not consequently extinguish all of her privacy rights, nor does it imply-without more-that there is a basis to suspect her of involvement in any other kind of felony. ( Brisendine, supra , 13 Cal.3d at p. 556, 119 Cal.Rptr. 315 , 531 P.2d 1099 .) In contrast, convicted felons " 'retain no constitutional privacy interest against their correct identification.' " ( Robinson , supra , 47 Cal.4th at p. 1121, 104 Cal.Rptr.3d 727 , 224 P.3d 55 .) But we have never held, as the government argues, that individuals lawfully placed under custodial arrest lack a constitutionally protected interest in their genetic identity.

Nor can we consider the privacy interests at stake in this case solely from the perspective of an individual who has been lawfully arrested and convicted. It is undisputed that Buza was arrested with probable cause and convicted of three felonies. But Buza declined to provide a sample of his DNA during his booking into jail-long before his felony convictions,

The position the majority takes is in tension even with its own logic. There is simply no good reason to believe that the order in which this court decides an issue vis-à -vis the high court should determine the outcome of our deliberation, or that we should read our prior cases as supporting some kind of ersatz presumption that we should ration as much as possible the discussion of state constitutional rights. The framing is inconsistent with the

felony charges was uncertain. At that moment, Buza had just as much a right to assert noncompliance in order to raise a challenge against the DNA Act as an arrestee who would eventually be acquitted of felony charges. Far from asserting the privacy interests of third parties, Buza challenges the DNA Act as it applies to himself under the circumstances of this case. (Cf. Sabri v. United States (2004) 541 U.S. 600 , 609, 124 S.Ct. 1941 , 158 L.Ed.2d 891 [disapproving of a facial challenge to the constitutionality of a statute]; In re Cregler (1961) 56 Cal.2d 308 , 313, 14 Cal.Rptr. 289 , 363 P.2d 305 ["one will not be heard to attack a statute on grounds that are not shown to be applicable to himself"].)

Suppose we waited instead for another case brought by a plaintiff lawfully arrested for, and ultimately acquitted of, a felony charge. When this hypothetical plaintiff is told to submit to a DNA test upon arrest, she is presented with only two choices, both causing irreparable harm: (1) she could refuse the test and be lawfully prosecuted for (and found guilty of) a misdemeanor; or (2) she could submit to the test, and suffer the very harm to her privacy that she would later attempt to mitigate partially by seeking expungement. We may on occasion tolerate some degree of privacy harm and still uphold a search and seizure as reasonable. (See, e.g., People v. Medina (1972) 7 Cal.3d 30 , 40, 101 Cal.Rptr. 521 , 496 P.2d 433 ["Reasonableness of a search may depend on the degree of invasion of privacy which occurs." (italics added) ].) But this case raises more serious privacy concerns, because of the character of the information the government seeks to obtain. (See Birchfield , supra , 136 S.Ct. at p. 2178 ; State v. Medina , supra , 102 A.3d at p. 682 [stating that it is "important to note that the DNA samples being seized provide a massive amount of unique, private information about a person that goes beyond identification" in finding unconstitutional a state statutory amendment which had permitted DNA collection from all felony arraignees].) By declining to reach the issue here, we force a potential future plaintiff to suffer irreversible adverse consequences, either by penal sanction or harm to genetic informational privacy. This seems a substantial burden to impose upon an individual seeking to challenge the infirmities of the retention provisions, particularly where, based on the facts of this case, the majority already implicitly recognizes that there are likely constitutional defects in the statutory provisions regarding the government's retention of genetic information. (Maj. opn., ante , 230 Cal.Rptr.3d at p. 698, 413 P.3d at p. 1146 [stating that "we must leave for another day" the question of whether automatic expungement is constitutionally required for "the wrongly arrested or exonerated"].)

That Buza was ultimately arraigned and convicted is therefore irrelevant to our analysis. (Cf. maj. opn., ante , 230 Cal.Rptr.3d at pp. 684-685, 706-709, 413 P.3d at pp. 1135, 1153-1155.) We must consider Buza's claim in light of how he was situated when that claim accrued-when he was merely "[a]n arrestee whose arrest has not even been subjected to a judicial determination of probable cause," and so held privacy interests "closest on the spectrum of privacy rights to an ordinary citizen." ( People v. Buza (2014) 231 Cal.App.4th 1446 , 1488, 180 Cal.Rptr.3d 753 ; see People v. Triggs (1973) 8 Cal.3d 884 , 893, 106 Cal.Rptr. 408 , 506 P.2d 232 ( Triggs ) ["In seeking to honor reasonable expectations of privacy through our application of search and seizure law, we must consider

Given the nature of these concerns, the machinery of the DNA Act appears to epitomize the sort of intrusion relevant under article I, section 1. The collection of DNA-whether it is via cheek swab or any of the other collection processes the Act permits (see Pen. Code, § 298.1, subd. (b) [permitting the use of reasonable force to collect DNA database samples] )-violates the subject's bodily integrity. (See Hill , supra , 7 Cal.4th at pp. 40-41, 26 Cal.Rptr.2d 834 , 865 P.2d 633 [finding that the collection of a urine sample "impacts legally protected privacy interests"].) And the use of that sample to create and store a DNA profile gives the government long-term access to the subject's genetic code-some of the most personal information imaginable. ( Id. at p. 41, 26 Cal.Rptr.2d 834 , 865 P.2d 633 [" 'A person's medical profile [as revealed by the collection and analysis of urine] is an area of privacy infinitely more intimate, more personal in quality and nature than many areas already judicially recognized and protected.' "]; Birchfield v. North Dakota (2016) 579 U.S. ----, ---- - ----, [ 136 S.Ct. 2160 , 2177], 195 L.Ed.2d 560 ( Birchfield ) [noting that DNA collection and analysis "put into the possession of law enforcement authorities a sample from which a wealth of additional, highly personal information could potentially be obtained"].) The DNA Act's processes thus seem to fall close to the heart of article I, section 1's scope. Consequently, it is vital to consider article I, section 1 in our independent analysis of the constitutionality of the DNA Act under our state charter.

state may compel a DNA sample from even those wrongfully arrested provides the perverse incentive for law enforcement to engage in pretextual arrests as a means to obtain a person's DNA and wherefore uncover evidence of crimes.

The DNA Act's lack of an automatic expungement provision exacerbates such concerns. Again, unlike the Maryland statute, the Act does not require the destruction of the DNA sample and removal of any resulting profile from state and federal databases if the individual at issue is never convicted of a felony. Instead, the DNA Act requires a discharged arrestee to initiate expungement proceedings and navigate the resulting process himself. Although the Department of Justice assures us that the "vast majority of requests have resulted in expungement," the Attorney General does not provide-and the record does not elsewhere contain-any information about how often eligible individuals initiate expungement proceedings in the first place. The absence of automatic expungement proceedings, and the employment of a process that requires the arrestee to initiate expungement and provide required documentation, heightens the possibility that the State will retain possession of DNA profiles for individuals who were never convicted of qualifying felonies, who may never have been charged with a felony in the first place, or who may not have been lawfully arrested at all.

Ironically, the interests advanced by the Attorney General on behalf of the state-

Once we assign proper weight and meaning to the California Constitution, we can turn to the ultimate question in any case arising under article I, section 13 : whether the search or seizure in question is reasonable. ( Ingersoll v. Palmer (1987) 43 Cal.3d 1321 , 1329, 241 Cal.Rptr. 42 , 743 P.2d 1299 ( Ingersoll ); see also Brisendine , supra , 13 Cal.3d at p. 536, 119 Cal.Rptr. 315 , 531 P.2d 1099 .) At issue here is the compelled physical production of a biological sample from someone who has not been convicted. Whether this particular search satisfies the reasonableness standard is judged by balancing its intrusion on the individual's reasonable expectations of privacy against its promotion of legitimate government interests. ( People v. Robinson (2010) 47 Cal.4th 1104 , 1120, 104 Cal.Rptr.3d 727 , 224 P.3d 55 ( Robinson ).) In this section, we examine the interests the government says are served by the DNA Act. Ultimately, such interests either ring hollow or prove insufficient to justify suspicionless, warrantless searches of the type allowed by the Act.

As a threshold matter, it is questionable whether the DNA Act genuinely furthers many of the interests the government identifies. The government must create a DNA profile and compare it against existing profiles to obtain any of the "identification" information it needs. The State informs us here that it takes "around 30 days on average" to generate an identification profile from an arrestee's DNA sample. Yet in seeking to justify the collection of DNA, the government points to functions-verifying identity, making bail decisions, and so forth-that it must perform near to the time an arrestee is booked and

amendment, however, would significantly cut down on the number of people whose privacy is invaded due to the analysis, storage, and comparison of their DNA samples.

Nowhere does the majority seem to reject the merits of that approach. (See maj. opn., ante , 230 Cal.Rptr.3d at pp. 695-696, 413 P.3d at pp. 1144-1145.) Instead, it argues that since DNA processing is so slow, processing of the arrestees' samples in practice-regardless of what the law permits-usually does not take place until judicial probable cause has been made anyway. ( Id. at pp. 695-696, 413 P.3d at pp. 1144-1145.) The slow operation of existing technology and institutional practices thus become features supporting the constitutionality of the Act. As odd as this argument is, its force is sapped further still by the Act's blanket permission for the processing of DNA samples even if a magistrate finds that the arrest was without probable cause. (See Pen. Code, § 298 [requiring jail officials to "promptly" forward biological samples to the Department of Justice without providing any exception for those wrongfully arrested].) The burden remains on the individual-even if wrongfully arrested or later exonerated-to seek expungement. But were we to strike down the Act, automatic expungement would become law. (See Pen. Code, § 299 [conditional provision to the Act requiring automatic expungement of DNA profiles from databank when the arrests do not lead to valid convictions].) In contrast, the existing statute creates a default regime that requires DNA samples from anyone subject to a felony arrest-irrespective of whether they will eventually be judged guilty or whether a neutral magistrate finds probable cause-and leaves the state in a position to retain such information indefinitely unless expungement is pursued and achieved.

None of these observations implies we should strike down the DNA Act because we prefer its replacement on policy or prudential grounds. (Cf. maj. opn., ante , 230 Cal.Rptr.3d at pp. 699-700, fn. 7, 413 P.3d at p. 1148, fn. 7.) Instead we emphasize what remains obvious even if downplayed by the majority: the Legislature has approved a law that accomplishes much of the Government's interests while alleviating the constitutional problem.

While the DNA Act is an initiative entitled to a presumption of validity, the searches it permits-and in fact, requires

nevertheless require the State to justify the searches the Act accomplishes. In this case, the State has not carried its burden to show the reasonableness of its searches when balanced against the interference with individual privacy. So provisions of the DNA Act authorizing such unreasonable searches must be struck down.

Insofar as the majority would lean on majoritarian impulses to imply that something more is required because the Act is an initiative passed by voters (see maj. opn., ante , 230 Cal.Rptr.3d at pp. 695-697, 702-703, 708-709, 413 P.3d at pp. 1144-1145, 1150, 1155), we note that there is no formal distinction in our role in evaluating initiatives versus legislation enacted by representative political institutions. ( Calfarm , supra , 48 Cal.3d at pp. 814-815, 258 Cal.Rptr. 161 , 771 P.2d 1247 [evaluating an initiative " 'in the light of established constitutional standards' " and finding it unconstitutional].) The Constitution applies both, and equally, to legislators and the general public. The majority cannot mean to suggest otherwise.

In the final analysis, arrestees do not have such diminished expectation of privacy as to permit the State to retain their DNA profile and conduct repeated searches of it. As such, when weighed against the State's generalized interest in identifying arrestees and solving crimes, an arrestee's reasonable privacy interest in his or her genetic information-uniquely protected under the California Constitution-must win. ( Triggs , supra , 8 Cal.3d at p. 892, 106 Cal.Rptr. 408 , 506 P.2d 232

Under this authority, even full custodial arrest, booking, and incarceration will not authorize law enforcement to conduct an exploratory search of an arrestee in the hope of discovering evidence of another, possibly more serious crime. (See Laiwa , supra , 34 Cal.3d at pp. 727-728, 195 Cal.Rptr. 503 , 669 P.2d 1278 .) Rather, booking an arrestee into custody only permits a further search necessary to serve the government's administrative needs. ( Id. at p. 726, 195 Cal.Rptr. 503 , 669 P.2d 1278 ; People v. Macabeo (2016) 1 Cal.5th 1206 , 1214, 211 Cal.Rptr.3d 34 , 384 P.3d 1189 .) In contrast to such searches, the DNA collection at issue would effect a search and seizure to uncover evidence of any and all illicit activities-those committed in the past as well as those that might be committed in the future, none of which the State has justifiable reason to suspect that the arrestee has done. To allow such an intrusion would contravene our precedent and dramatically expand the recognized exceptions to the warrant requirement.

A recent United States Supreme Court decision also cuts against treating fingerprinting and DNA collection as equivalent. In Birchfield , supra , 136 S.Ct. at p. 2185, the high court held that the search incident to arrest doctrine does not justify the warrantless taking of a blood sample to measure blood alcohol content (BAC). To reach this conclusion, the high court weighed the privacy interests affected by blood tests against the government's need for such tests. It found that the tests implicated significant privacy concerns-not only because of the intrusive nature of the tests, which involve

Even as the DNA Act falls short of legitimately advancing the interests the government asserts, its requirements constitute a major intrusion into the privacy of all the people subject to its procedures. Focusing solely on the

Given the extent of the interests involved, it should not be taken for granted that the State's current practices or statutory provisions prohibiting misuse will mitigate the interference with an arrestee's expectation of privacy. (Cf. maj. opn., ante , 230 Cal.Rptr.3d at p. 705, 413 P.3d at p. 1152.) For one, it is not necessarily the actual use of an individual's DNA that invades her reasonable expectations of privacy. (See Birchfield , supra , 136 S.Ct. at p. 2178 ["Even if the law enforcement agency is precluded from testing the blood for any purpose other than to measure BAC, the potential remains and may result in anxiety for the person tested."].) Here, a privacy intrusion occurs from the mere fact of the government's storage of an arrestee's DNA,

When the California electorate voted to pass Proposition 69 on the 2004 general election ballot, it substantially expanded the scope of DNA sampling to include individuals who are arrested for any felony offense, as well as those who have been convicted of such an offense. In People v. Robinson (2010) 47 Cal.4th 1104 , 104 Cal.Rptr.3d 727 , 224 P.3d 55 ( Robinson ), this court upheld the expanded DNA collection requirement as applied to persons convicted of felony offenses. The question now before us concerns the application of the DNA Act to persons who have been arrested for, but not yet convicted of, a felony offense.

The DNA Act provides that if an arrestee is cleared of charges and there is no other basis for keeping the information, the arrestee "shall have his or her DNA specimen and sample destroyed and searchable database profile expunged from

The United States Supreme Court's decision in King , which was issued while this appeal was pending, has significantly altered the terms of the debate. After King , defendant no longer argues, as he had argued in the courts below, that the Fourth Amendment categorically forbids the mandatory collection of DNA from persons who have been arrested but not yet convicted of felony offenses. Defendant argues instead that King should be either distinguished on its facts or rejected as a matter of state constitutional law. Because both arguments require us to consider the import of the United States Supreme Court's decision in King , we will begin there.

A.

King came to the high court against the backdrop of increasingly widespread use of DNA technology in criminal justice systems nationwide. As the court observed, all 50 states and the federal government require the collection of DNA samples from individuals who are convicted of felony offenses. In recent years, a majority of states and the federal government have also authorized the collection of DNA from some or all persons arrested for felony offenses. ( King , supra , 569 U.S. at p. 445, 133 S.Ct. 1958 .) Although courts had generally approved the collection of DNA samples following conviction, the permissibility of this expansion of DNA sampling proved more controversial. The high court granted review in King to resolve a conflict among federal and state courts "as to whether the Fourth Amendment prohibits the collection and analysis of a DNA sample from persons arrested, but not yet convicted, on felony charges." ( Id . at p. 442, 133 S.Ct. 1958 .)

The specific question before the court concerned the application of a Maryland law that authorized law enforcement authorities to collect DNA

Weighing the privacy-related concerns at stake against law enforcement needs, the court concluded that the search was reasonable. On the law enforcement side of the balance, the court identified five interrelated governmental interests in obtaining the DNA sample. First, the court explained, the state has an interest in knowing " 'who has been arrested and who is being tried.' " ( King , supra , 569 U.S. at p. 450, 133 S.Ct. 1958 , quoting

The high court further concluded that analysis of the DNA sample, once collected, does not result in a privacy intrusion that violates the federal Constitution. ( King , supra , 569 U.S. at p. 464, 133 S.Ct. 1958 .) It explained that the processed DNA loci "come from noncoding parts of the DNA that do not reveal the genetic traits of the arrestee" and that "law enforcement officers analyze DNA for the sole purpose of generating a unique identifying number against which future samples may be matched." ( Ibid. ) It also noted that Maryland's DNA law "provides statutory protections that guard against further invasion of privacy" ( id. at p. 465, 133 S.Ct. 1958 .); in the court's view, these statutory protections allayed the privacy concerns associated with the state's analysis of the DNA sample ( ibid. , citing NASA v. Nelson (2011) 562 U.S.----, ---- [ 131 S.Ct. 746 , 750], 178 L.Ed.2d 667 ).

For these reasons, the court held that "[w]hen officers make an arrest supported by probable cause to hold for a serious offense and they bring the suspect to the station to be detained in custody, taking and analyzing a cheek swab of the arrestee's DNA is, like fingerprinting and photographing, a legitimate police booking procedure that is reasonable under the

Defendant appears to read too much into the language on which he relies. The high court identified the question before it more generally as "whether the Fourth Amendment prohibits the collection and analysis of a DNA sample from persons arrested, but not yet convicted, on felony charges." ( King , supra , 569 U.S. at p. 442, 133 S.Ct. 1958 .) And as a matter of ordinary usage, a felony is considered a "serious" offense. (See, e.g., Carachuri-Rosendo v. Holder (2010) 560 U.S. 563 , 574, 130 S.Ct. 2577 , 177 L.Ed.2d 68 ["A 'felony,' we have come to understand, is a 'serious crime usu[ally] punishable by imprisonment for more than one year or by

Defendant contends that the timing of analysis nevertheless ought to figure in the equation because, as a practical matter, officers ordinarily will not receive a suspect's DNA profile until well after booking in any event. When officers make a warrantless arrest and take a suspect into custody, due process ordinarily requires that a judicial officer make a probable cause determination promptly after booking-ordinarily within 48 hours-to justify continued pretrial detention. ( County of Riverside v. McLaughlin (1991) 500 U.S. 44 , 58-59, 111 S.Ct. 1661 , 114 L.Ed.2d 49 .) (No such requirement applies if the arrestee is released from detention. ( In re Walters (1975) 15 Cal.3d 738 , 743, 126 Cal.Rptr. 239 , 543 P.2d 607 ; see also Pen. Code, § 849, subd. (a).) ) By contrast, defendant notes, in California it has typically taken much longer-at the time of briefing, an average of 30 days-to generate an identification profile from an arrestee's DNA sample. (See

King does not speak directly to the issue defendant raises concerning the adequacy of the DNA Act's expungement procedures. Although the high court mentioned Maryland's automatic destruction provisions in passing, it attached no significance to them in its constitutional analysis. ( King , supra , 569 U.S. at pp. 443-444, 133 S.Ct. 1958 .) Rather, the court responded to privacy concerns about the state's processing of DNA samples by emphasizing features of the Maryland law that are shared by California's: namely, the analysis of a sample involves the processing only of loci from "noncoding parts of the DNA that do not reveal the genetic traits of the arrestee," and the law strictly prohibits the misuse of DNA records for any purpose other than identification. ( Id. at p. 464, 133 S.Ct. 1958 ; see id. at p. 465, 133 S.Ct. 1958 ; Pen. Code, § 299.5.)

The court's failure to mention the expungement provisions does not necessarily mean that they are irrelevant to the constitutional analysis, however. To be sure, the retention of an arrestee's fingerprints, photographs, and other identifying information in law enforcement files generally has not been thought to raise constitutional concerns, even though the arrestee may later be exonerated. ( Loder v. Municipal Court (1976) 17 Cal.3d 859 , 864-869, 132 Cal.Rptr. 464 , 553 P.2d 624 ; People v. McInnis (1972) 6 Cal.3d 821 , 826, 100 Cal.Rptr. 618 , 494 P.2d 690 .) But the question defendant raises is whether, given the uniquely sensitive nature of DNA information, a different rule should apply here: one that calls not only for expungement, but for automatic expungement of an arrestee's DNA sample, DNA identification

Second, although decisions of the United States Supreme Court interpreting parallel federal text are not binding, we have said they are "entitled to respectful consideration." ( People v. Teresinski (1982) 30 Cal.3d 822 , 836, 180 Cal.Rptr. 617 , 640 P.2d 753 ( Teresinski ); cf., e.g.,

Robinson , like King , recognized that suspects can change their names, assume a false identity using forged documents, change their hair color, have tattoos removed, have plastic surgery, and change their eye color with contact lenses. But it is impossible to alter a DNA profile. Thus, as Robinson explained, " 'for purposes of identifying "a particular person" as the defendant, a DNA profile is arguably the most discrete, exclusive means of personal

To the extent defendant means to argue that fingerprinting simply makes DNA identification superfluous, we have no adequate basis for concluding that is so. Fingerprinting and DNA identification are not simply substitutes for one another. ( Robinson , supra , 47 Cal.4th at p. 1134, 104 Cal.Rptr.3d 727 , 224 P.3d 55 .) Fingerprinting alone would not have revealed, for example, that there was an outstanding warrant for the defendant's arrest in Robinson . And as the court in King noted, "[i]n considering laws to require collecting DNA from arrestees, government agencies around the Nation found evidence of numerous cases in which felony arrestees would have been identified as violent through DNA identification matching them to previous crimes but who later committed additional crimes because such identification

To entertain defendant's arguments here would convert our decision in this case, which concerns only the validity of defendant's conviction for violation of Penal Code section 298.1, into the equivalent of facial constitutional review of the DNA Act as it might be applied to other arrestees. But the DNA Act itself instructs that the validity of the Act as applied to defendant does not depend on its validity as it might apply to others. (Prop. 69, supra , § V, subd. (b); see p. 6, ante .) And our jurisprudence likewise counsels us to follow a narrower course. While "passing on the validity of a law wholesale may be efficient in the abstract," the law teaches that we should ordinarily focus on the circumstances before us in determining whether the work of a coequal branch of government may stand or must fall. ( Sabri , supra , 541 U.S. at p. 609, 124 S.Ct. 1941 .) We accordingly abide by what has been called a " 'cardinal principle of judicial restraint-if it is not necessary to decide more, it is necessary not to decide more.' " ( People v. Contreras (2018) 4 Cal.5th 349 , 381, 229 Cal.Rptr.3d 249 , 411 P.3d 445 .)

In sum: Defendant raises a number of concerns about the potential application of the DNA Act in other cases involving other, differently situated arrestees. He also raises concerns that changes in technology might open up new prospects for using his DNA samples and profiles in ways that are uniquely invasive of personal privacy. We are mindful of these concerns, and

The Department of Justice has sought to expedite the process by creating a "Streamlined DNA Expungement Application Form." (Cal. Dept. of Justice, Proposition 69 (DNA) < https://oag.ca.gov/bfs/prop69> [as of Apr. 2, 2018] ["Remove Your DNA Sample from the DNA Database"]; cf. 34 U.S.C. § 12592 (d)(2) [requiring states to "promptly expunge" the DNA analysis of qualified persons as a condition of state access to the DNA index maintained by the FBI].) But the reality is that few DNA samples, once collected, are ever removed.

The Department of Justice DNA Laboratory publishes monthly reports on the

I have no doubt that law enforcement is aided by the collection and retention of massive numbers of DNA profiles, whether those profiles are used to confirm a person's identity, to facilitate access to criminal history or other information about a person, or to help solve unsolved crimes. But if those interests are enough to justify the collection and retention of DNA from persons who are arrested but not convicted, not charged, or not even found to be lawfully detained so long as they do not seek expungement, then it is not that far a step for the state to collect and retain DNA from law-abiding people in general, including anyone who "applies for a driver's license" or "attends a public school." ( King , supra , 569 U.S. at p. 482, 133 S.Ct. 1958 (dis. opn. of Scalia, J.).)

"Just as the Supreme Court, when interpreting a provision of the Federal Constitution, does not accord a presumption of correctness to any state's

Notwithstanding today's opinion, this court is no stranger to the importance of judicial federalism. In People v. Cahan (1955) 44 Cal.2d 434 , 282 P.2d 905 , we adopted the exclusionary rule for violations of the state constitutional prohibition on unreasonable searches and seizures, declining to follow the high court's refusal to adopt a federal exclusionary rule in Wolf v. Colorado (1949) 338 U.S. 25 , 69 S.Ct. 1359 , 93 L.Ed. 1782 . In

Second, how the majority decides to frame its inquiry is just as much a problem. By asking whether we may grant our own courts a permission slip to "depart" from a United States Supreme Court decision addressing a matter that is no more than partially similar to the case before us, the majority has done more than to adjust the weight on the state side of the jurisprudential scale relative to the federal side. It's dispensing with the scale altogether. Instead of weighing the relative merits of the issue at hand according to our independent responsibility to construe our Constitution, the majority appears to deploy words like "depart" and "guidance" to embrace the view that we should presumptively comply with a United States Supreme Court opinion that does not even address the precise question before us. In this new analysis, our own authorities are emaciated in importance by being read narrowly, such that booking searches are presumed to be so categorically distinct from field searches that nothing meaningful can be gleaned for this case from decisions involving the latter. Meanwhile, a far-broader reading and presumption of validity is reserved for a non-binding United States Supreme Court decision-even though the decision is interpreting a different Constitution, and a different DNA collection scheme that does not come close to applying to all felony arrestees. This

Our cases have described the "core value" of article I, section 1 as protecting so-called "informational privacy," meaning the privacy interest in sensitive and confidential personal information. ( Hill v. National CollegiateAthletic Assn. (1994) 7 Cal.4th 1 , 35-36, 26 Cal.Rptr.2d 834 , 865 P.2d 633 ( Hill ); Lungren , supra , 16 Cal.4th at p. 406, 66 Cal.Rptr.2d 210 , 940 P.2d 797 .) We have found that article I, section 1 grew out of the electorate's fears of "increased surveillance and data collection activity in contemporary society" ( White , supra , 13 Cal.3d at p. 774, 120 Cal.Rptr. 94 , 533 P.2d 222 ), and was intended to address the

The path we are bound to follow is a different one. Instead of relying primarily on King to yield a tidy solution in this case, we owe it to the citizens of our

The risk in simply embracing generalized crime-solving as sufficient justification for compelled collection of a DNA sample from someone who has merely been arrested is that such a move may be understood to justify searches and seizures of people and places without any particularized suspicion. The detection of legal wrongdoing is perhaps the preeminent justification for all policing activity, making such a generalized interest virtually always loom in the background when any law enforcement search is attempted. To allow such an interest to tip the balance and allow for, first, an intrusion into the body; second, analysis of the information seized therefrom; and, finally, potentially indefinite retention of the results (regardless of the outcome of the initial arrest that served as justification for the search), is to permit such an interest to become not only omnipresent but also omnipotent. Having trumped a person's interest in what is often the most jealously guarded fount of information-and having done so on the basis of nothing more than that the mere fact a person was subject to a felony arrest-the diffuse governmental interest in generalized crime-solving will almost always overwhelm any offsetting consideration. Which is why we must be especially vigilant before embracing the government's argument. (See King , supra , 569 U.S. at p. 482, 133 S.Ct. 1958 (dis. opn of Scalia, J.) [acknowledging that "the construction of [ ] a genetic panopticon," culled from "the taking of DNA samples from anyone who flies on an airplane," "applies for a driver's license," or "attends a public school" would have the "beneficial effect of solving more crimes" but denouncing the idea that this was enough to override "the charter of our liberties"].)

So it is beyond question that the government may deploy reasonable techniques to solve crime-so long as those techniques do not effect a search or a seizure without individualized suspicion. Yet the fact that the class of persons subject to the DNA Act is limited to arrestees, rather than all citizens, does not give rise to the necessary threshold of suspicion to conduct a generalized search for incriminating information, nor does it change the usual presumption that searches are unlawful absent a warrant. Moreover, the warrant exception for a search incident to arrest is limited. It allows only for searches to uncover evidence of the crime that gave rise to the arrest itself or weapons that might be used to injure an arresting officer or accomplish an escape. ( Brisendine , supra , 13 Cal.3d at p. 539, 119 Cal.Rptr. 315 , 531 P.2d 1099 .) We made this rule clear in Brisendine , and have continued to adhere to it in subsequent cases, where we

Unlike the Maryland statute scrutinized in King , the DNA Act does not require that a lawful arrest have occurred before DNA collection, as it permits the retrieval and processing of a DNA sample before a magistrate or other judicial officer has determined that the arrest was supported by sufficient probable cause. This aspect of the DNA Act vastly expands the number of individuals subject to its dragnet. As Justice Liu points out, almost one in five felony arrestees are released prior to a judicial determination of probable cause. Yet all of these individuals must allow their DNA to be collected and retained by the state (for at least 180 days) under threat of criminal sanction. ( Pen. Code, § 299, subd. (c)(2)(D).) Even more invidiously, the fact that the

The DNA Act unlawfully invades people's reasonable expectation of privacy in their personal genetic information. Any diminished expectation of privacy arrestees may or may not have in their genetic code does not justify an intrusion of this magnitude. The government's asserted interest in identifying individuals in its custody and solving crimes may prove important in justifying a variety of practices. But it does not countenance this intrusion, as the government's rationale for the DNA Act is neither borne out by the Act's implementation nor consistent with our precedent's restrictions on suspicionless searches. This makes the DNA Act unconstitutional under our state charter as applied to felony arrestees-individuals, like Buza, who are not yet known to be lawfully arrested, much less found guilty. Far from invalidating the work of the California electorate, striking down the Act would vindicate our core constitutional values, which recognize that our citizens have the