DNA profiles should be removed from database

[30 July 2008]

DNA records of those not convicted of a crime should be removed from the police DNA database.

A government-funded inquiry has also recommended that control of the database should be taken away from the police and government and handed to an independent body. The UK has the largest police DNA database in the world, containing records of 4million people. Despite the new recommendations, the Home Office has said that the database helps to secure convictions of criminals. Current laws mean that DNA records of suspects arrested in England and Wales are kept, regardless of whether they were later charged or convicted. DNA samples given by innocent volunteers during police inquiries are also kept on the database. However, the report concluded that even guilty people who have served their time should eventually have their DNA records erased, because keeping their records 'continues to criminalise them'.

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