Can a person charged with a crime be forced to give body fluids or samples?

Legal Question of the Day for Monday, March 10, 2008

Yes. The Supreme Court has held that the Fifth Amendment protects communications only and that bodily samples (body fluids or samples of blood, hair or fingernail clippings) are physical evidence and not protected. In Breithaupt v. Abram, 352 U.S. 432 (1957), the Supreme Court held that the evidence gathered when police took a blood sample from a driver to test for alcohol was not a deprivation of due process and did not violate his right against self incrimination.

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