Suspects' DNA data plans changed [UK]
By BBC,
BBC News
| 10. 19. 2009
The government has dropped plans to give ministers wide powers on holding innocent people's DNA data on record.
The Policing and Crime Bill had proposed allowing ministers to set time limits on holding DNA but had not set out how long these would be.
Campaigners argued that such plans would mean less parliamentary scrutiny.
The government has dropped the proposals from the bill and says it will introduce revised legislation later this autumn.
The plans relate to people arrested for suspected crimes but never charged.
A European Court of Human Rights ruling last year said the policy of retaining all suspects' data was "blanket and indiscriminate".
'Victory'
Following this ministers proposed allowing DNA details to remain on the database for up to 12 years instead of indefinitely.
They had said this would happen via a parliamentary order - which would require a vote but would be given less time for debate than a bill.
When the consultation was published earlier this year, critics said Parliament needed a full debate on the issues surrounding how many people are held on the...
Related Articles
By Yelena Biberman and Jonathan D. Moreno, Bioethics Forum | 04.16.2024
A quiet biological revolution in warfare is underway. The genome is emerging as a new domain of conflict. The level of destruction that only nuclear weapons could previously achieve is fast becoming as accessible as a cyberattack.
Now for the...
By Jorge Barrera and Rachel Houlihan, CBC | 04.09.2024
A Canadian DNA laboratory knowingly delivered prenatal paternity test results that routinely identified the wrong biological fathers — ruling out the real dads — and left a trail of shattered lives around the globe, a CBC News investigation has found...
By Timnit Gebru and Émile P. Torres, First Monday | 04.14.2024
The stated goal of many organizations in the field of artificial intelligence (AI) is to develop artificial general intelligence (AGI), an imagined system with more intelligence than anything we have ever seen. Without seriously questioning whether such a system can...
By Carey Gillan, UnSpun | 03.18.2024
A Mexican standoff with the United States turned into a Mexican smack-down this month with the release of Mexico’s formal rebuttal to US efforts to overturn limits Mexico has ordered on the use of genetically modified (GM) corn and the...