The Government yesterday outlined the details of a new scheme to remove innocent people from the DNA database. Under the new proposals innocent people’s profiles would be removed after 6 years, or after 12 years for those arrested for, but not convicted of, the most serious offences. The move comes after the ECHR’s landmark ruling in December 2008 that the policy of indefinitely retaining DNA samples and profiles of innocent people is an abuse of human rights.
I have been campaigning on this issue for some time, and figures I have been given through asking Parliamentary questions have shown there are now 925,000 innocent people on the DNA database in the UK, and over 53,000 in Wales. Staggeringly, more than 1 in 5 of those whose DNA is held on the database have not been found guilty of any crime.
There are some positive steps contained within the Government’s announcement. Children will automatically have their profiles removed at the age of 18, though only if they have committed just one minor offence. However, I question the value of holding the DNA profiles of children at all, other than those accused of the most serious crimes.
The main concern, however, is that the Government have done the bare minimum necessary to comply with the ruling of the European Court, and if it were up to them they would have left the DNA database to continue to expand at the current rate. In fact, they are still claiming that 4,500 crimes per year will go unsolved because of this change, though as of yet they have provided no evidence for this claim. Scotland does not seem to have suffered from this particular epidemic of unsolved crimes despite only storing the profiles of innocent people if they have been accused of a serious sexual or violent offence, and then only for five years.
Labour’s decision to throw out the principle of innocent until proven guilty has turned the DNA database from a dedicated crime fighting tool into an invasive arm of the Big Brother state. As the comedian Mark Steel says, it creates a third category of person – guilty, innocent and innocent-ish!
The DNA database needs to be restored to its original purpose – catching criminals. Jacqui Smith mustn’t be allowed to get away with anything short of removing all innocent people from the DNA database without delay.
Jenny Willott is the Welsh Liberal Democrat MP for Cardiff Central
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