DNA Database Clinic
Posted by Diane Abbott, MP for Hackney North and Stoke Newington, at 09:02, Wed 16 September 2009:
Next week I’m going to be holding a DNA database clinic with campaign group Liberty to help young people in Hackney who have their DNA unfairly kept on the Government’s national database. As most readers will know, Conservative MP Damien Green was recently able to get his DNA removed. But for “ordinary” people the story is quite different. Lawyers from Liberty say that they speak to hundreds of people who have tried to persuade Police to get rid of their DNA records, but with no luck. Importantly, the European Court of Human Rights ruled last year that keeping innocent people’s DNA data breached the European Human Rights laws.
Professor Sir Alec Jeffreys, the scientist who discovered the significance of DNA, made it clear years ago that he thought it was wrong for the government to keep the DNA of innocent people. He said: "I'm totally opposed ... It's discriminating, inconsistent with privacy laws and an example of ad hoc sloppy thinking."
But the Police continue to hold the DNA of hundreds of thousands of people who have never been charged with a crime. Even if you are mistakenly arrested, or arrested for a minor crime like begging, your DNA can be kept for the rest of your life. And the database is becoming increasingly racially unequal. Currently 77% of young Black men are on the DNA database. Estimates suggest that at the current rate, by next year half of all Black men will be on it. Furthermore, there are an estmiated 40,000 children on the database.
These two issues – the fact that the database is contributing to criminalising Black men and contains the DNA data of so many children, and the fact that so many innocent people end up on there – are particularly worrying for me.
Do constituents agree? Or do the benefits of having as many people’s DNA on the database as possible for crime-fighting purposes outweigh the costs?
Comments
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Posted by Harrison Leaf, 09:23, Wed 16 September 2009: (Is this post abusive?) #
Good point, well made.
Posted by Matthew Lever, 09:37, Wed 16 September 2009: (Is this post abusive?) #
I agree. Little more to add really.
Posted by Mel Williams, 10:12, Wed 16 September 2009: (Is this post abusive?) #
Thanks for your continued support for civil liberties. The benefits of a massive central DNA database certainly do not outweigh the rights to privacy of innocent people and could certainly be prone to future abuse by less benign governments.
Posted by Kate Creedy, 10:13, Wed 16 September 2009: (Is this post abusive?) #
DNA is not as safe as the police and government would have us believe. There is a way to fake it, as Israeli scientists have published this information on the web, I believe. The reliance on what is seen as a fool proof method stops proper investigative policing and is a lazy but seductively cheap way to police the general population as a whole. It is also seductive to Governments in power, of whatever persuasion, as it creates a cowed and supine population scared to defend its liberties. The history of civil rights in England has been long and bloody and largely forgotten by most of us taught history in school. When they came for others and took their liberty and I did nothing, who then will defend my self same liberty. If it is black men, children or particular groups are targetted we all suffer in the body politic.
Posted by Seemone Osinnowo, 11:47, Wed 16 September 2009: (Is this post abusive?) #
I believe it should be dealt with while we still have the liberty to acknowledge it as bystanders. Too often do we allow such injustices to continue purely because they do not directly effect us. But this is one of those issues that if not brought to light will in the long run infringe upon our freedoms as beings. My freedom as a human being will always far out weigh the need for ridiculous policing methods, in the name of my safety. Just an example of a system bent on stripping us of our liberty
Posted by Anne Carroll, 12:17, Wed 16 September 2009: (Is this post abusive?) #
I absolutely agree that DNA samples of people who have not been charged, convicted or charged with minor crimes should be cleared.
It is disgusting that, once again, there seems to be separate rules for the establishment and ordinary people - with the Tory MP being able to clear his own name.
Taking DNA samples of children proves that the UK is undergoing a complete shift in thinking - our justice system is based on the premise that you are innocent until proven guilty. Collating DNA samples of children shows that presumed guilt will be the norm.
STOP IT NOW!
Posted by Kathryn Johnson, 13:39, Wed 16 September 2009: (Is this post abusive?) #
I agree, the DNA of those not charged and those not found guilty of a crime should be removed from the database. Those who are found guilty of a minor offence should have theirs removed once their offence is 'spent'.
Posted by John Davis, 13:54, Wed 16 September 2009: (Is this post abusive?) #
ALL Civil Liberties need defending now.
Good Work.
The more pressing matter however is the threat of MANDATORY vaccinations for the SWINE FLU.
The following is from page 15 of the W.H.O. checklist for influenza pandemic preparedness planning: "During a pandemic, it may be necessary to overrule existing legislation or (individual) human rights. Examples are the enforcement of quarantine (overruling individual freedom of movement), use of privately owned buildings for hospitals, off-license use of drugs, compulsory vaccination"
Check for yourself what is in the shots before you roll up your sleeves.
Posted by John Callon, 14:25, Wed 16 September 2009: (Is this post abusive?) #
i support your views entirely, Diane. The state is holding too much information on its citizens. The balance has to be changed.
Posted by Jed Keenan, 15:59, Wed 16 September 2009: (Is this post abusive?) #
Please put my name forward to get my DNA record deleted too. An Ulster heritage isn't as prejudicial as a West Indian, but until the 'Islamist threat' it was a distant number two.
Posted by Silvia Murray, 18:01, Wed 16 September 2009: (Is this post abusive?) #
I completely agree Dianne. And to be honest I'm not convinced by any of these encroachments on civil liberties such as DNA databases, ID cards or CCTV footage for protecting me from harm - because they lead to shoddy, inadequate policing. For example, I have experienced a number of situations where the police cannot be bothered to interview a witness or a victim, because the perpetrator was not caught on CCTV. What did they do before CCTV? They INVESTIGATED the crime! Now they languidly lean in the office, yawn and impassively tell me that "yeh.. there's not much we can do without the CCTV. Do you still want to make a statement?".. I bet it'll be the same 'without the DNA' or 'without the ID card' (-its not worth us doing the job we were paid to do by public funding: seeking to enforce the law and bring justice). So to summarise, I am very sceptical as to how the erosion of our civil liberties in practice will assist the police to make our society any safer or more just.
Posted by Simon Pennington, 20:38, Wed 16 September 2009: (Is this post abusive?) #
Either everyone is placed on a anon database at birth or no one is on it.
the mechanics of access to the database is complicated.. I don't pretend to have thought it through.
Posted by Andres Caceres, 23:25, Wed 16 September 2009: (Is this post abusive?) #
I have been detained once in a Police station in Hackney London just days before Christmas in 2007.I was taken handcuffed unfairly just because I happened to be there when they did a raid and they would not pay attention to my explanation. During the more than 24 hours they kept incommunicated, they took smaples of my DNA from my throat.They kept me alone in a cell and they took away my mobile, my belongings and forced to leave everything behind. There was no way I could possible retrieve any numbers of my immediate contacts. After begging them to contact my solicitor, I managed to conviced them to call them but when they rang the office happened to have closed due to days prior to Christmas holidays so they only reached their answering machine. It was the worst time I ever experienced in my life since for a moment i was suspect in the middle of their own investigation. I believe they still keep my DNA in their records. Once I was released they didn't even apologise despite all I feel very ashamed for what they made feel like a criminal. Since they couldn't prove anything wrong with me. I have no relatives in this city just friends and a Buddhist organisation where I am member since 2006. They were the ones who backed me up and called the police station and finally they could believe in me to release me. I think the way police acts nowadays is to fight against crime however there are better ways to do this without humillating innocent people. I know we live in our present time with so much distrust and potential risk of becoming victims of violence and assaults in the streets. This is why I sincerely understand the labour of the police which is extremely difficult to perform when they have to arrest people and keep them detained until they are able to do their investigations.
Posted by Paul Vernon, 16:22, Fri 18 September 2009: (Is this post abusive?) #
I am glad you have taken up this issue. My guess is that the racial inequality aspect, though real and significant, is an incidental consequence of the New Labour project to use technology to bring the whole of human existence under centralized control. The attempted realization of this dogmatic fantasy has already resulted in many examples of individual injustice, and, unless checked, will lead to many more
Paul Vernon
Posted by linda vaughan jones, 15:52, Fri 25 September 2009: (Is this post abusive?) #
I know this is late but well done for taking on this issue. As Tony Benn said 'you only get justice if you do something about it'.