DNA database,a victory for common sense

[Biker Biggles]

Originally Posted by MiniMatt

I would just like to point out at this stage that this was a case won by adherance to the principles of the Human Rights Act, fought in Strasbourg and arguably fought by yoghurt weaving liberals. Just something to think about next time anyone wants to proclaim that the nations ills are all down to the Europeans, Human Rights or the liberal agenda

Back on track - the rights and wrongs of this particular case are clearly heavily weighted toward the discrimination argument. Seperate from whether it's right or wrong to have a national register on which everyone's DNA resides, is the question of whether it's right for one group of entirely innocent people to be on the register while another group of entirely innocent people aren't. People are discriminated against (having their DNA on the database against their wishes) for no other reason than being in the wrong place at the wrong time or even just a police balls up in arresting the wrong people.

Onto the larger argument. The UK has the LARGEST DNA DATABASE IN THE ENTIRE WORLD. And that's by number of records, not in proportion to population size. The UK is a very small country, yet it has the LARGEST DNA DATABASE IN THE ENTIRE WORLD. We also have more CCTV cameras than any other country in the ENTIRE WORLD. For one small country to have more CCTV and more DNA records than any other country in the world (even the ones with populations 20 times our own) we must surely live in a crime free utopia? Course we don't, now I don't think crime is particularly endemic, despite what the tabloids would have you believe this is a fairly safe country but this massive machine of tyranical surveillance is definitely not delivering.

You've got nothing to hide? You have if you've got a heart defect, or perhaps you're short sited.... imagine how much money the NHS spends every year treating people with heart defects and providing NHS specs, what if we could.... prevent them from having babies..... sure, further down the line we might get fed up of spending all this money treating the ones out there with existing conditions so perhaps we could just.... round them all up.... we'll put them in camps.... to ensure they don't pollute our gene pool.... we'll create a master race of healthy blond haired blue eyed aryans...

Now now-----You cant provoke a post from Nieo cos hes been banned.
Other than that you are of course dead right.

[Bibio]

ahhh speaking of large databases and public records... where do you think they are all kept?

i'll give you a clue... they are the most paranoid nation in the world...

[Biker Biggles]

Not the Judean peoples front?

Originally Posted by Bibio

ahhh speaking of large databases and public records... where do you think they are all kept?

On train seats

[yorkie_chris]

Originally Posted by Biker Biggles

Not the Judean peoples front?

F##k off we're the peoples front of judea.

[yorkie_chris]

Minimatt, some of us gun totin' right wingers would also argue against the erosion of liberty. It's not just the yoghurt knitters who don't like th idea of a police state.

I wouldn`t have a problem with my details being kept on a DNA database and I think it actually wouldn`t be such a bad idea if we were all on there. If you`re not a criminal then you have nothing to fear by your DNA being held.

My thought is how much quicker could crimes be solved if they have everyones DNA to hand. I`ve just read a really good article on how the police are now using DNA to solve previously unsolved murders and they`ve had quite a few good results.

They have released an innocent man who was serving life for the murder and sexual assault of Lesley Molseed in 1975. The man continued to protest his innocence and finally another man was arrested for an unrelated incident and had to provide a mouth swab which then proved he was the murderer.

Again another man was arrested for assault on his wife, DNA was taken and proved he was the murderer of Marion Crofts who was raped, strangled and beaten to death in 1981.

How many other murderers are out there thinking that they`ve gotten away with their crimes. There`s literally hundreds of "cold cases" from over the decades that could now be solved and the police are looking into reopening 700 unsolved murder cases from 1985 to 1999. Think of the fresh hope that will give victims families.

[SoulKiss]

Originally Posted by Speedy Claire

I wouldn`t have a problem with my details being kept on a DNA database and I think it actually wouldn`t be such a bad idea if we were all on there. If you`re not a criminal then you have nothing to fear by your DNA being held.

My thought is how much quicker could crimes be solved if they have everyones DNA to hand. I`ve just read a really good article on how the police are now using DNA to solve previously unsolved murders and they`ve had quite a few good results.

They have released an innocent man who was serving life for the murder and sexual assault of Lesley Molseed in 1975. The man continued to protest his innocence and finally another man was arrested for an unrelated incident and had to provide a mouth swab which then proved he was the murderer.

Again another man was arrested for assault on his wife, DNA was taken and proved he was the murderer of Marion Crofts who was raped, strangled and beaten to death in 1981.

How many other murderers are out there thinking that they`ve gotten away with their crimes. There`s literally hundreds of "cold cases" from over the decades that could now be solved and the police are looking into reopening 700 unsolved murder cases from 1985 to 1999. Think of the fresh hope that will give victims families.

Thats fine if DNS is 100% reliable.

At the moment its down to the police to prove that you were at the scene of a crime, now its up to you to prove that while your DNA was there, you were not.

Say you go to a nightclub, hand your coat/jacket into the cloakroom.

Can some loose hair from your collar not find its way onto the back of the coat that is hung next to yours?

So when the young lady that you were seen talking to by 100 witnesses is murdered on her way home, and your hair is on her coat, then you must have been in contact with her coat in order for that to be the case.

So when you left the club and went home to bed alone - no-one to back that up, the hairs from the cloakroom could tie you to the crime.

And all because they found some hair and had your DNA in the database......

Yep thats a good point. The 2 cases I quoted stated that they used DNA from sperm found on the victims clothing. I`m not sure but I reckon it`d have to be 100% "without a shadow of a doubt" before the police could arrest someone. The say that if the DNA sample is a good one then the chance of a mismatch using the new techniques is one in a billion.

[SoulKiss]

Originally Posted by Speedy Claire

Yep thats a good point. The 2 cases I quoted stated that they used DNA from sperm found on the victims clothing. I`m not sure but I reckon it`d have to be 100% "without a shadow of a doubt" before the police could arrest someone. The say that if the DNA sample is a good one then the chance of a mismatch using the new techniques is one in a billion.

But in the example I put forwards, it WOULD be a 100% accurate match.