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The NYPD Kept an Illegal Database of Juvenile Fingerprints For Years (theintercept.com) 63

Posted by BeauHD from the saying-one-thing-but-doing-another dept.
An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Intercept: For years, the New York Police Department illegally maintained a database containing the fingerprints of thousands of children charged as juvenile delinquents -- in direct violation of state law mandating that police destroy these records after turning them over to the state's Division of Criminal Justice Services. When lawyers representing some of those youths discovered the violation, the police department dragged its feet, at first denying but eventually admitting that it was retaining prints it was supposed to have destroyed. Since 2015, attorneys with the Legal Aid Society, which represents the majority of youths charged in New York City family courts, had been locked in a battle with the police department over retention of the fingerprint records of children under the age of 16. The NYPD did not answer questions from The Intercept about its handling of the records, but according to Legal Aid, the police department confirmed to the organization last week that the database had been destroyed. To date, the department has made no public admission of wrongdoing, nor has it notified the thousands of people it impacted, although it has changed its fingerprint retention practices following Legal Aid's probing. "The NYPD can confirm that the department destroys juvenile delinquent fingerprints after the prints have been transmitted to DCJS," a police spokesperson wrote in a statement to The Intercept.

Still, the way the department handled the process -- resisting transparency and stalling even after being threatened with legal action -- raises concerns about how police handle a growing number of databases of personal information, including DNA and data obtained through facial recognition technology. As The Intercept has reported extensively, the NYPD also maintains a secretive and controversial "gang database," which labels thousands of unsuspecting New Yorkers -- almost all black or Latino youth -- as "gang members" based on a set of broad and arbitrary criteria. The fact that police were able to violate the law around juvenile fingerprints for years without consequence underscores the need for greater transparency and accountability, which critics say can only come from independent oversight of the department. It's unclear how long the NYPD was illegally retaining these fingerprints, but the report says the state has been using the Automated Fingerprint Identification System since 1989, "and laws protecting juvenile delinquent records have been in place since at least 1977." Legal Aid lawyers estimate that tens of thousands of juveniles could have had their fingerprints illegally retained by police.
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The NYPD Kept an Illegal Database of Juvenile Fingerprints For Years More

The NYPD Kept an Illegal Database of Juvenile Fingerprints For Years

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  • Comment removed based on user account deletion

  • Try to get any police station in motherfucking North Dakota to admit to even knowing what they do or don't actually have from the last 4 decades of criminal activity in their state. Seriously. Try tracking down... anything, then shit will get weird, I promise.

  • Investigate and prosecute. (Score:4, Interesting)

    by Gravis Zero ( 934156 ) on Wednesday November 13, 2019 @07:40PM (#59411902)

    I'm tired of this crap happening and nobody being held accountable. We need to investigate who made this happen and then prosecute them to the maximum extent of the law. The police are supposed to uphold the law and when they do not, it's a violation of the public trust.

    • Re: (Score:3)

      by alexo ( 9335 )

      Who exactly is going to investigate?
      Who exactly is going to prosecute?

      There is not one good apple in the whole barrel.

      • The law making this illegal is Federal. Too bad they don't have some sort of Bureau. You know one that Investigates these things?
        Oh wait, there is the FBI. Part of their mandate is to investigate local police departments not upholding the law and charge them for criminal behavior.
        Who would you charge? The police chiefs are responsible for what happens in their precinct. If they knew, or it was reasonable that in their position they should have known about the illegal activity, they are guilty of aiding a
      • It's absolutely non-negotiable for every modern society to establish a civilian oversight board for every police force that has the power to investigate and lay charges against the police. In my neck of the woods, we have ASIRT [wikipedia.org] at a provincial level. Any incident in which a civilian is injured in the slightest through interaction with police automatically starts an investigation. Many times police force is ruled justifiable, but this process has also resulted in police charges. Munipically we also have

    • Oh yes it's an outrage. How dare the police try to effectively prosecute teenage gangbangers? Someone must pay! And certainly not the juvenile delinquents.

      • Durrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!

        Fuck it right? We should just these people up for life! I mean, the NYC cops say they are 'teenage gangbang juvenile delinquents!' Book'em Danno!

      • Re: (Score:3)

        by HiThere ( 15173 )

        If the police are allowed to break the law, why isn't everyone else?

        If nobody else is allowed to break the law, why are the police?

        What this looks like is rule by power, not by law. The police have the power to break the law, including killing people, with near impunity. Other people just try not to get caught. And why should anyone respect the law when the police, themselves, constantly hold it up to mockery.

        Respect for law requires that it be respected by those with power. Otherwise it turns into "don'

      • Even if juvenile and teenage gang banger were synonymous you indicated have no problem with people who ignore the law, so why would you have anything against them?

  • All cops are bad cop-adjacent. If they're not actively corrupt neo-nazis, then they're providing cover for actively corrupt neo-nazis.

    There are no good cops.

    • Voters reelect actively corrupt politicians.

      There are no good voters. All money is blood money

      Ultimately, oversight is our problem. Are there no good people?

    • Comment removed based on user account deletion
    • I trust you will never, EVER use the police in any capacity. For example, if you were robbed or beaten, you'll try to handle it your own way - and not use the police. Because they are all bad. Right?

      • Because they are all bad. Right?

        That's not what I said. However, the ones that are not bad are bad cop-adjacent and covering for their bad brothers in blue.

      • The law prevents one from 'handling things their own way.' The state has a monopoly on the use of force. When the state forbids you from protecting yourself, yet doesn't protect individual rights and interests, injustice occurs. And the state just isn't interested in protecting the citizens as much as enforcing archaic drug laws and harassing the poor and disadvantaged. How often are burglaries and other property crimes investigated, in comparison to crime that affects the corporate?

        And yeah man, if you go

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by Wulf2k ( 4703573 )

        The police have never responded to any situations I've been involved in anywhere near quickly enough to matter, nor have they brought any of the criminals to justice. I did get a parking ticket in the mail from my car that had been stolen though, so that was extra special.

        The threat of police keeps society from devolving too far into anarchy, but direct interaction with them in one's personal life will almost never be a positive or productive experience.

    • Re:Serpico was fantasy (Score:4)

      by twocows ( 1216842 ) on Thursday November 14, 2019 @09:51AM (#59413510)
      I read stories from the subreddit "Tales from the Squad Car" on the regular. There are plenty of stories posted where the officer's partner starts to overstep their authority and the poster puts them in their place. Sometimes the bad officer gets fired and usually the posting officer seems relieved when that happens. There's often a discussion about what would have happened if they weren't there to check the bad officer's behavior. And I think that's part of the problem: in many cases there isn't a check on that behavior because the bad actors aren't always paired with someone willing and able to stop them.

      The point I'm trying to make is that in many cases, it's the exact opposite of what you're saying. When an officer starts overstepping their authority, it's very often another officer who puts a stop to it. Plenty of real, actual people join the force in order to protect and serve, and part of protecting and serving is making sure other officers don't abuse their station.

      Your complaint should be that people are able to make it out of academy without a healthy respect for the rule of law and the role of law enforcement. "Bad officers" should be a lot more rare; the fact that they're not indicates a training issue. I'd also like to see "good cops" empowered to be more protected in the event that they see an abuse of station and put a stop to it. I think that's where we need to start and I don't think demonizing all of law enforcement is helpful unless you just want to drive everyone into camps where "the other guy" is the bad guy. That's how you get violent conflicts, by the way.

      • I read stories from the subreddit "Tales from the Squad Car" on the regular. There are plenty of stories posted where the officer's partner starts to overstep their authority and the poster puts them in their place. Sometimes the bad officer gets fired and usually the posting officer seems relieved when that happens

        And how often are there stories of a copy turning in his corrupt partner?

        When an officer starts overstepping their authority, it's very often another officer who puts a stop to it.

        And how often

  • Perhaps a fix for some of this problem would be to extend more agency toward younger people. These 'youfs' probably don't think of themselves at all as children, until a defense attorney tells them it will get them out of trouble.

    In the Criminal Justice system, perhaps the age of majority should be lowered to 14 or 15. Perhaps gang membership should be legally defined as emanicpation, i.e. when somebody moves out of a family with parents and into a gang, they cease to be considered a child.

    Yes. These are

    • Re:More Agency for the Young (Score:4, Insightful)

      by deviated_prevert ( 1146403 ) on Wednesday November 13, 2019 @10:09PM (#59412296) Journal

      Perhaps a fix for some of this problem would be to extend more agency toward younger people. These 'youfs' probably don't think of themselves at all as children, until a defense attorney tells them it will get them out of trouble.

      In the Criminal Justice system, perhaps the age of majority should be lowered to 14 or 15. Perhaps gang membership should be legally defined as emanicpation, i.e. when somebody moves out of a family with parents and into a gang, they cease to be considered a child.

      Yes. These are just thoughts slapped out to consider. I know it will cause some to start slapping stereotypes around.

      The problem with sticking youths in the adult system is and has always been that prisons make excellent schools. A kid that I went to school with robbed a gas station with a .22 handgun he borrowed from a friend at the age of 15. He was sent up to the big house for it. When he came out a year later he was on heroine, aggressively violent and only interested in getting into the drug trade as a dealer. Since then he has spent most of his life in and out of prison and loves the lifestyle inside the joint.

      Are some individuals just bad eggs and should be treated as such? Certainly. But the point is that the prison system is not set up to deal with youthful hormones and cannot possibly be expected to help youth to find alternatives to a criminal way of life.

      I have known police officers who have worked all over North America and most are concerned about helping people not incarcerating them unless absolutely necessary. It is sickening to see such hatred in America for people who by and large choose to serve others. Yes there are bad egg cops and corrupt politicians with an ax to grind or a wallet to pad by taking advantage of how easy it is to corrupt society.

      But if people have become to believe the bullshit that El Chapo, Pablo Escobar, Griselda Blanco, John Gotti, Al Capone and today's gangsters gone legitimate, like the Bananas and their friends and associates are deserving good people: And is the Government and the Police that are to blame for all our social issues: Then your view of the world has been completely corrupted by the influence of organized crime in the media and this influence has spread all the way to the White House. When we can become convinced that our key social institutions are to blame for our all our troubles, watch the fuck out because this is exactly what happened in Germany after the first world war! We are headed toward a fucking dictatorship and unless society wakes the fuck up and soon it is inevitable. And this goes for Canada to because we will become another Austria and wind up falling for some Trumped up form of Anschluss to protect American citizens living and working in Canada.

      Then again we here in Canada might just get you guys down south to pay for a wall the way things are going with the numbers of sensible Americans getting the fuck out of the country until some sanity returns. Stop pissing on your public servants and dedicated good citizens who serve you...you bunch of self righteous fucking assholes!

      Sorry about the pointed rant but there seems to be far too many people today ready to blame police officers and liberals for things that they have no control over. I am sick and tired of all this left and right asinine bullshit, time for a reality check. Western democracy is at risk because we are content to shit sling instead of seeking common ground which is the reason why forest have trees even if we have trouble seeing them. Blaming others for social issues is a 'scape goat hunt not a useful enterprise, the mirror beacons look to it.

  • Many people of all ages are fingerprinted when they are arrested, but are never convicted of anything. Personally, I think they should all have their prints expunged in that case, not just youths.

    Of course, the databases of fingerprints, faceprints, DNA and other biometrics continue to grow apace so that your benevolent police state can protect you from scary criminals.

    It won't end in the happy society many envision.

  • Good thing we had De Blasio - and now we have Bloomberg - running for the Democrat Presidential Candidate! After all, when the charge of fascism is hurled at Republicans, we can just sit back and remember that it's the Democrats of NYC keeping this database illegally...
  • Are they required to destroy those records as well? Seems like a legal catch-22. Juvenile delinquents are commonly the first to go missing or worse.

  • A copy of the prints goes to the feds. Along with arrest records and other pertinent information. The feds are under no obligation to destroy their copy of the records.

    Good luck with that security clearance if you were a fuck-up as a kid.

  • It's silly to discard data. (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward

    Crime and innocence have little to do with age, and generations of juvenile gang bangers prove it. All data on all crime should be retained forever. The innocent have nothing to fear if the data is kept accurately.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by HiThere ( 15173 )

      You final supposition is false. Some of it is even incorrect when originally entered.

      The rate of known false conviction is a lot higher than most people believe, and that's just the tip of the iceberg. Plea bargaining is a recipe for convictions of innocents without significant chance of appeal. Aggressive DAs and weak lawyers yield another layer of wrongful convictions. Yes, there are wealthy people with powerful lawyers who get off when they should be convicted, but there are a lot less of them than t

  • So often we read about some apparatus of the state "illegally" exceeding their authority.

    And yet there are no penalties imposed, no convictions, no sentences handed down. In that sense, these things don't seem too illegal at all. If society tolerates "illegal" actions by failing to impose any consequences for them, can we really be surprised that this shit keeps happening?

    Where's the "tough on crime" crowd when you need them?
  • The only group more arrogant than the government is corporate society. They have blurred the line between people and persons, the bottom line is all that matters; anything that doesn't belong to them regardless of whom it belongs to, is just something to be acquired.

    These same people want to teach A.I. how to be just like them. A day will come some time in the future where the history books will point to these same people, as examples, of what not to do as a society. Probably as a footnote of a civilizati

  • This type of stuff will continue until the people responsible are thrown behind bars themselves.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by HiThere ( 15173 )

      I wish it were that simple. Unfortunately people tend to strongly discount distant threats. So if it takes a couple of years to detect the problem, convicting the perpetrators will have little deterrent effect.

      It's still a good idea, but it's also important to work on detecting the problems more quickly.

  • Petty authoritarians are some of the most callus law breakers of them all. They theorize nothing they do can be illegal because they somehow find themselves holding vested authority. What a violation of the public's trust. The consequences for a government official breaking the law should be ten times harsher than that of a private citizen because they've been entrusted the The People's trust and delegated authority, only to turn around and abuse it.

  • It's always been a shithole hole of violence. Search for the documentary "Scarface 4 life"/Rikers Island on Youtube.

      So I'm not surprised that this database exists. Corruption abounds.

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