Racial bias
About four out of ten black men have records on the DNA database. About 3 out of 4 young black men, aged between 15 and 34, have records on the DNA database.
In 2007, the Home Affairs Committee of MPs published a report on Young Black People and the Criminal Justice System.
In the section about the DNA database the MPs say that:
- The Government minister Baroness Scotland confirmed that three-quarters of the young black male population will soon be on the DNA database.
- The Committee is concerned about the implications of the presence of so many young black men on the database, and: “It appears that we are moving unwittingly towards a situation where the majority of the black population will have their data stored on the DNA database“.
- A larger proportion of innocent young black people will be held on the database than for other ethnicities given the small number of arrests which lead to convictions and the high arrest rate of young black people relative to young people of other ethnicities.
- This means that young black people who have committed no crime are far more likely to be on the database than young white people. It also means that young white criminals who have never been arrested are more likely to get away with crimes because they are not on the database. The MPs say: “It is hard to see how either outcome can be justified on grounds of equity or of public confidence in the criminal justice system“.
The chair of the Equality and Human Rights Commission, Trevor Phillips, has stated: “This is tantamount to criminalising a generation of young black men”.