DNA crime database now at two million
The Home Secretary has announced that two million people are about to be listed on a national DNA crime database.
There has been a 50% increase in the crimes solved using DNA over the last three years and the BBC have obtained figures that suggest it is increasingly obvious DNA can be a strong weapon against all kinds of crime.
However civil liberties campaigners are calling for a more open debate about who should have DNA held on file and about whether everyone should be on the national DNA database.
Scientists have warned that DNA evidence is not infallible, and matches are referred to as probable rather than definite.
In 2000 the Government said that it hopes to have three million personal profiles on the system by 2004. This was thought to be the whole of the so called ‘criminal class’.
The Government’s Criminal Justice Bill plans to give police powers to take samples from anybody who has been arrested, although currently it is only those charged with an offence.
The news comes at the same time as a Government white paper suggested that all newborn babies could in future be screened to produce a complete genetic profile that would form part of their medical records.
