North Carolina General Statutes 15A-266.12. Confidentiality of records
(a) All DNA profiles and samples submitted to the Crime Laboratory pursuant to this Article shall be treated as confidential and shall not be disclosed to or shared with any person or agency except as provided in N.C. Gen. Stat. § 15A-266.8
(b) Only DNA records and samples that directly relate to the identification of individuals shall be collected and stored. These records and samples shall solely be used as a part of the criminal justice system for the purpose of facilitating the personal identification of the perpetrator of a criminal offense; provided that in appropriate circumstances such records may be used to identify potential victims of mass disasters or missing persons.
(c) DNA records and DNA samples submitted to the Crime Laboratory pursuant to this Article are not a public record as defined by N.C. Gen. Stat. § 132-1
(d) In the case of a criminal proceeding, requests to access a person’s DNA record shall be in accordance with the rules for criminal discovery as defined in N.C. Gen. Stat. § 15A-902 The Crime Laboratory shall not be required to provide the State DNA Database for criminal discovery purposes.
(e) DNA records and DNA samples submitted to the Crime Laboratory may only be released for the following authorized purposes:
(1) For law enforcement identification purposes, including the identification of human remains, to federal, State, or local criminal justice agencies.
(2) For criminal defense and appeal purposes, to a defendant who shall have access to samples and analyses performed in connection with the case in which such defendant is charged or was convicted.
(3) If personally identifiable information is removed to local, State, or federal law enforcement agencies for forensic validation studies, forensic protocol development or quality control purposes, and for establishment or maintenance of a population statistics database.
(f) In order to maintain the computer system security of the Crime Laboratory DNA database program, the computer software and database structures used by the Crime Laboratory to implement this Article are confidential. ?(1993, c. 401, s. 1; 2003-376, s. 4; 2010-94, s. 11; 2013-360, s. 17.6(f).)
Terms Used In North Carolina General Statutes 15A-266.12
- Appeal: A request made after a trial, asking another court (usually the court of appeals) to decide whether the trial was conducted properly. To make such a request is "to appeal" or "to take an appeal." One who appeals is called the appellant.
- Defendant: In a civil suit, the person complained against; in a criminal case, the person accused of the crime.
- Discovery: Lawyers' examination, before trial, of facts and documents in possession of the opponents to help the lawyers prepare for trial.
- DNA: means deoxyribonucleic acid. See North Carolina General Statutes 15A-266.2
- following: when used by way of reference to any section of a statute, shall be construed to mean the section next preceding or next following that in which such reference is made; unless when some other section is expressly designated in such reference. See North Carolina General Statutes 12-3
- state: when applied to the different parts of the United States, shall be construed to extend to and include the District of Columbia and the several territories, so called; and the words "United States" shall be construed to include the said district and territories and all dependencies. See North Carolina General Statutes 12-3
- State DNA Database: means the Crime Laboratory's DNA identification record system to support law enforcement. See North Carolina General Statutes 15A-266.2