UK accused of DNA about-face
Source: Agencies |
July 27, 2011, Wednesday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
BRITAIN'S government was accused yesterday of breaking a promise to stop keeping the DNA records of people arrested for crimes but later found innocent.
Britain's DNA database is one of the largest in the world, containing genetic profiles of more than 5 million people, or 8 percent of the population. Samples are taken from everyone arrested for a crime, and the information is usually retained even if the person is acquitted or freed without charge.
Critics of the practice - including Alec Jeffreys, the scientist who discovered DNA fingerprinting - say it unfairly taints hundreds of thousands of innocent people with the suggestion of guilt.
After an outcry from civil libertarians, the government last year promised to delete the DNA profiles of up to 1 million innocent people. But a government minister has said that while the physical DNA samples will be deleted and their electronic profiles removed from the country's central database, the profiles could still be kept by local forensic science labs, albeit with the names removed. But blotting out suspects' names would not necessarily be irreversible. In the letter obtained by the Daily Telegraph newspaper, Home Office Minister James Brokenshire admitted that it would still theoretically be possible to trace each sample back to an individual because they were each tagged with bar codes.
It was not clear why the labs would not be asked to delete the profiles. Home Office officials did not immediately respond to requests for clarification.
Privacy group Big Brother Watch accused the government of a "disgraceful U-turn."
"Destroying physical DNA samples is a pointless gesture if the computer records are to be retained," said the group's director, Daniel Hamilton.
But the government insisted it was keeping its promise.
"Our position has not changed at all. We will retain the DNA of the guilty, not the innocent," the Home Office said. "That means DNA records of the innocent will come off the database and physical samples will be deleted."
Britain's DNA database is one of the largest in the world, containing genetic profiles of more than 5 million people, or 8 percent of the population. Samples are taken from everyone arrested for a crime, and the information is usually retained even if the person is acquitted or freed without charge.
Critics of the practice - including Alec Jeffreys, the scientist who discovered DNA fingerprinting - say it unfairly taints hundreds of thousands of innocent people with the suggestion of guilt.
After an outcry from civil libertarians, the government last year promised to delete the DNA profiles of up to 1 million innocent people. But a government minister has said that while the physical DNA samples will be deleted and their electronic profiles removed from the country's central database, the profiles could still be kept by local forensic science labs, albeit with the names removed. But blotting out suspects' names would not necessarily be irreversible. In the letter obtained by the Daily Telegraph newspaper, Home Office Minister James Brokenshire admitted that it would still theoretically be possible to trace each sample back to an individual because they were each tagged with bar codes.
It was not clear why the labs would not be asked to delete the profiles. Home Office officials did not immediately respond to requests for clarification.
Privacy group Big Brother Watch accused the government of a "disgraceful U-turn."
"Destroying physical DNA samples is a pointless gesture if the computer records are to be retained," said the group's director, Daniel Hamilton.
But the government insisted it was keeping its promise.
"Our position has not changed at all. We will retain the DNA of the guilty, not the innocent," the Home Office said. "That means DNA records of the innocent will come off the database and physical samples will be deleted."
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 娌狪CP璇侊細娌狪CP澶05050403鍙-1
- |
- 浜掕仈缃戞柊闂讳俊鎭湇鍔¤鍙瘉锛31120180004
- |
- 缃戠粶瑙嗗惉璁稿彲璇侊細0909346
- |
- 骞挎挱鐢佃鑺傜洰鍒朵綔璁稿彲璇侊細娌瓧绗354鍙
- |
- 澧炲肩數淇′笟鍔＄粡钀ヨ鍙瘉锛氭勃B2-20120012
Copyright 漏 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
