Innocent people on the DNA database
The National DNA Database (NDNAD) in England was the first to be established and used to be a criminal database. However, two changes to the law, made in 2001 and 2003, mean that it now contains records from a much larger proportion of the population than any other country in the world.
Up to a million innocent people who have been arrested in England, Wales or Northern Ireland have had their DNA retained. This includes many children, who can be arrested from the age of ten.
Even a false accusation of a very minor crime — such as a child claiming that another child pulled their hair — can lead to an arrest. DNA, fingerprints and personal information are now taken at the police station as a matter of routine and (except in Scotland) kept until age 100.
Labour MP Diane Abbot has highlighted some of the stories of people who have been arrested in a Westminster debate.
The Government is acting illegally
In December 2008, the European Court of Human Rights ruled that the UK Government had broken European human rights law by expanding its criminal databases in this way. The court said that keeping DNA and fingerprints from innocent people breached their right to privacy. This law exists to protect people’s freedoms from abuse by their own governments.
Changing the law does not mean opposing the use of DNA in solving crimes
Removing people who have no criminal conviction from these databases would not prevent the police from using DNA to help solve crimes, or to exonerate innocent people. In fact, keeping DNA from innocent people has not increased the likelihood of solving crimes.
Miscarriages of justice have sometimes been exposed by testing DNA in stored crime scene evidence, as in the recent Sean Hodgson case. But a person who is falsely accused of a crime does not need their DNA to be on a database because a DNA sample can easily be taken from them.
The inventor of genetic fingerprinting, Professor Sir Alec Jeffreys, has warned that the government is putting at risk public support for the National DNA Database by holding the genetic details of hundreds of thousands of innocent people.
Removing innocent people from the database
The UK Government is isolated on this issue: other countries only keep the DNA of criminals who have been convicted of serious offences.
In Scotland, the law is different and most innocent people have their DNA destroyed and their computer records deleted as soon as they are acquitted, or if charges are dropped. This is because the Scottish Government and Scottish Parliament decided that keeping innocent people’s DNA records is wrong.
The Liberal Democrat party supports changing the law to be similar to Scotland’s. You can read the relevant part of their Freedom Bill here.
The Conservative party agrees and has written a letter to the Home Secretary Jacqui Smith about why keeping innocent people’s DNA is wrong. The Conservative policy on DNA is reported here. In January 2010, the Conservatives launced a campaign to remove innocent people’s records from the DNA database.
Some Labour MPs have also called on the Government to implement the European Court’s decision.
How you can make a difference
Only a very small number of people have had their records taken off the DNA database since the European Court’s decision.
There are signs that the Government wants to continue an unfair removals process that would only help people with access to expensive lawyers or the media. This would mean that ordinary people’s rights would be ignored.
If enough people try to reclaim their DNA, and are persistent, the Government will have to change its mind and treat everyone fairly. This should mean that most people get their DNA and fingerprint records destroyed automatically if they are not convicted.
You can also contact your MP and take further action, even if you don’t have a record on the database.