The DNA database

A rare good piece of news came out of Europe in the last week. Two men who had taken their case to the European Court of Human Rights won their case to have their DNA deleted from the Government's national DNA database. The two men, who had the DNA sampled, one while he was a minor, were acquitted of all charges and have fought a long campaign to have the DNA removed.

The pair contend that the retention casts suspicion on people who have been acquitted or discharged of crimes, and that they should be treated in the same way as the rest of the unconvicted population.

The establishment of this database has been a stealth attack on the civil liberties of the innocent. 850,000 people are on this database who do not have a criminal record, including 40,000 children. Why should innocent persons have their DNA on a criminal records database? If the intention is to create a national database for all citizens, then that debate should be had in parliament rather than this sneaky approach.

As a result of this ruling, it is almost certain that the records of the innocent must now be destroyed, and not a moment too soon.