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01 Aug 2008
A government-funded inquiry has concluded that the DNA profiles of a million innocent people stored on a national database should be removed.
Under current rules innocent people who volunteer DNA samples during police inquiries, in addition to those who are arrested without charge, are permanently stored on the database.
Convicted criminals who have served their time should also have their samples purged from the system, which currently houses forensic information on 4.2 million citizens in England and Wales.
The inquiry argued that, even in the case of a successful conviction, DNA records should be erased because retaining the profile "continues to criminalise them".
The Human Genetics Commission, which oversaw the inquiry, also criticised " lax security measures" surrounding the access that organisations had to the database.
The organisation recommended that the government hand over control of the database to an independent body.
"Currently the DNA database targets the innocent, but not all the guilty," said shadow home secretary Dominic Grieve after the release of the findings.
"We have called for the database to be put on a statutory footing and properly debated."
The inquiry also said that the DNA profiles of 50,000 children convicted of a minor offence should be removed after a recommended period of five years.
Under the current system children as young as 10 can be swabbed, but only if they have been formally charged.
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Do you agree?
Having a laugh....
Surely people aren't as narrow-minded as that, to think that having a DNA sample on the national DNA database makes them guilty? What makes someone so certain they aren't going to be guilty of something in the future? To be perfectly honest, if it means living in a slightly safer environment what's wrong with having the database, if criminals are going to be caught quicker? Surely it's better to have innocent people on the database (who, incidentally, shouldn't worry....nothing to hide and all that) than scrap all the "innocent" samples, greatly reducing the elimination samples, and risk not catching someone because their sample was stupidly destroyed? I thought the whole point of the database was to increase the chance of catching a criminal; what good will it do to destroy samples? Kind of defeats the point to me....
Posted by: Jo Marley 02 Aug 2008
Keeping records helps solve future crimes quicker?!
Okay, here's my view, if one of these "innocent" people were to break a shop window 5 years later, and police search the found DNA on their database, they would be able to solve the crime alot faster yes? But if we remove these people from our databases, innocent or not, we are making life harder for ourselves. Personally, i think that we should all have our DNA on a protected database.
Posted by: Rhys 02 Aug 2008
Innocents should be removed from DNa database
Unless it is required for evidence, any information should be destroyed. This happened to me several years ago when my finger prints were taken after my car had been stolen and used in a robbery. That was before the new rules were introduced and the police were not having to meet "targets"
Posted by: Philip 01 Aug 2008
Why is it so wrong to criminalise criminals?
ridiculous! The oly purpose of the DNA database is to allow police to search for a match for forensic evidence left on crime scenes. Any imposed limit to whos data is stored will cripple its usefulness. Leading to a greater number of unsolved crimes and more money and time spent finding suspects that could have been found instantly had there DNA been on file.
Posted by: david james 01 Aug 2008
Wrong
DNA Database isnt just about storing people's details, its about catching the people that do wrong. Im sure their tones would be very different if they had something stolen but the theif was managed to be found and prosecuted thanks to the details on the database. I know i would.
Posted by: Andy 01 Aug 2008