Innocent's DNA shelf life halved
2009-11-11 22:43
London - The amount of time DNA profiles of innocent people, arrested but later cleared of a crime, can be kept on the national database is to be halved to six years under new government proposals.
The government was forced to review its policy in response to a ruling by the European Court of Human Rights last year.
The court said that the current policy of storing indefinitely the genetic fingerprint of everyone who is arrested is unlawful.
Records of all 16 and 17-year-olds will also be removed after six years and profiles of anyone younger than that after three, the government said.
Terrorism cases
Profiles of those arrested for acts of terrorism, even if they are cleared, however, could be retained for longer than the six-year cut-off.
Those would be evaluated on a case-by-case basis for reasons of national security, the Home Office said.
"It is crucial that we do everything we can to protect the public by preventing crime and bringing offenders to justice," Home Secretary Alan Johnson said.
"The DNA database plays a vital role in helping us do that, providing thousands of crime scene matches every year and helping to put many criminals behind bars where they belong."
World's largest database
The national database, launched 11 years ago, is the largest in the world, containing 5.8 million profiles, according to the Home Office.
Between 1998 and 2009, more than 410 000 crimes had DNA matches.
But civil liberties groups and opposition parties have accused ministers of not going far enough to scale back the ballooning database.
Shami Chakrabarti, director of Liberty, said: "It seems the government still refuses to separate the innocent and the guilty and maintains a blanket approach to DNA retention."
"This grudgingly modified policy creates a repeat collision course with the courts, and ministers look stubborn rather than effective or fair."
'Recipe for error and abuse'
She said that "nobody disputed the value of DNA" in solving crimes. "But stockpiling the intimate profiles of millions of innocent people is an unnecessary recipe for error and abuse."
Opposition parties also attacked the new measures.
Shadow Home Secretary Chris Grayling said: "Alan Johnson just doesn't seem to understand that there is a fundamental principle at stake here - that people are innocent until proven guilty."
The proposals differ from the rules in Scotland where most DNA records are deleted after three years unless there is a conviction.