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http://www.foxnews.com/wires/2007Sep05/0,4670,BritainDNA,00.html
UK Judge Wants DNA Base for All
Wednesday, September 05, 2007
LONDON - All British citizens and every visitor to the country should be
included on the national DNA database, which is already the world's largest,
a senior British judge said Wednesday.
Lord Justice Stephen Sedley said the current database of nearly 4 million is
insufficient, and that ethnic minorities are disproportionately included.
"We have a situation where if you happen to have been in the hands of the
police, then your DNA is on permanent record. If you haven't, it isn't. ...
That's broadly the picture," Sedley said in an interview with British
Broadcasting Corp.
"It also means that a great many people who are walking the streets, and
whose DNA would show them guilty of crimes, go free."
Former Prime Minister Tony Blair suggested last year that the database
should include all Britons.
Britain's database contains DNA samples from 5.2 percent of the nation's
people. The United States, by contrast, has 0.5 percent of the population on
its DNA database, according to the Home Office.
Richard Thomas, the government's information commissioner, said a debate was
needed on problems in the system. The database, he noted, now includes
samples from 9 percent of white males but 40 percent of black males.
However, he was cautious about moving to a universal database.
"This approach can be very intrusive. It raises really fundamental questions
about how much the state or the police know about each of us. There are
risks of errors or mistakes," Thomas told the BBC.
Sedley said there were "very serious but manageable implications" of a
universal database, which he said should be used "for the absolutely
rigorously restricted purpose of crime detection and prevention."
Shami Chakrabarti, director of the civil liberties group Liberty, said the
debate about expanding the database "reveals just how casual some people
have become about the value of personal privacy."
"A database of those convicted of sexual and violent crime is a perfectly
sensible crime-fighting measure," Chakrabarti said. "A database of every
man, woman and child in the country is a chilling proposal, ripe for
indignity, error and abuse."
UK Judge Wants DNA Base for All
Wednesday, September 05, 2007
LONDON - All British citizens and every visitor to the country should be
included on the national DNA database, which is already the world's largest,
a senior British judge said Wednesday.
Lord Justice Stephen Sedley said the current database of nearly 4 million is
insufficient, and that ethnic minorities are disproportionately included.
"We have a situation where if you happen to have been in the hands of the
police, then your DNA is on permanent record. If you haven't, it isn't. ...
That's broadly the picture," Sedley said in an interview with British
Broadcasting Corp.
"It also means that a great many people who are walking the streets, and
whose DNA would show them guilty of crimes, go free."
Former Prime Minister Tony Blair suggested last year that the database
should include all Britons.
Britain's database contains DNA samples from 5.2 percent of the nation's
people. The United States, by contrast, has 0.5 percent of the population on
its DNA database, according to the Home Office.
Richard Thomas, the government's information commissioner, said a debate was
needed on problems in the system. The database, he noted, now includes
samples from 9 percent of white males but 40 percent of black males.
However, he was cautious about moving to a universal database.
"This approach can be very intrusive. It raises really fundamental questions
about how much the state or the police know about each of us. There are
risks of errors or mistakes," Thomas told the BBC.
Sedley said there were "very serious but manageable implications" of a
universal database, which he said should be used "for the absolutely
rigorously restricted purpose of crime detection and prevention."
Shami Chakrabarti, director of the civil liberties group Liberty, said the
debate about expanding the database "reveals just how casual some people
have become about the value of personal privacy."
"A database of those convicted of sexual and violent crime is a perfectly
sensible crime-fighting measure," Chakrabarti said. "A database of every
man, woman and child in the country is a chilling proposal, ripe for
indignity, error and abuse."
