Though a national DNA database might solve a few crimes quicker, I submit that it's not worth

a) the chance of someone being wrongly convicted, simply because their DNA was said to have been found at a crime scene
b) the loss of individual freedom.

Arguing that "if it helps solve even one crime makes it worth it" is simplistic.

I'm sure the occasional bad guy has arranged a murder via the telephone, but do we want all telephone calls recorded by the state "just in case".

Similarly with transport, one could argue that more hit-and-run cases would be solved by having transmitters in all road vehicles, giving their location at all times.

Fine, less crime.

Now tell me how this differs from a totalitarian police state ?

Clive, Surrey,

A vile, arrogant psychopath.

RB, Aberdeen,

The arguments against a national DNA database include the reasons we don't have a national fingerprint database.

We are a free people, supposedly. I live in England but I don't belong to it.

The whole thing is insidious. We are sleep walking into a police state. You think I'm over stating the situation? Plans to bring in face recognition software and match it up to the whole network of CCTV? A DNA database that could be abused easily? Just about any government agency having access to your private records and able to bug your phone and intercept your email?

Soon law abiding citizens won't have any choice but to do as they're told, dissenters will be locked up.

Pete, Bristol, UK

"Guilty verdict on pub chef who murdered the model Sally Anne Bowman leads police to call for national gene pool"


There is a national gene pool!
A gene pool is "the collective genetic information contained within a population of sexually reproducing organisms"
ie it exists due to nature, not man and can't be created.

I think that gene pool has been mistaken for genetic database.

Sarah, Wales,

When a database gets as big at 60 million people, it will lead to multiple hits for a single sample. We are then going to see thousands of innocent people arrested (sometimes at gun point) while the police narrow down the search. Their names will be dragged through the mud and they will always be tarnished (not least by the US authorities who state that anyone arrested - whether convicted or not - is no longer eligible to visit the US without a visa). This will be made worse by deliberate contamination of a crime scene (e.g. taking cigarette butts from a litter bin and leaving them in a stolen car) as criminals discover it is a technique guaranteed to work when we are all on the database.

Kay Tie, York,

I guess 'violent sexual predator' is still a viable career choice for some men- and all the other men seem impotent to stop them. How many more maniacs are out there walking around free and looking for their next victim- feeling safe in the knowledge that society doesn't take their crimes seriously?

D Baker, Tayside, Scotland

it's been a good week for the dna database.

all we need now is the death penalty.

jem, london, uk

Lets be sure we don't give him any special protection while in jail so that he can enjoy extreme violence every day of his life, at the hands of the other inmates.

JB, London,

As tragic and foul as this murder was we must not be tempted into a knee-jerk reaction. A dna data-base wouldn't have stopped this pervert carrying out the terrible act itself. Sometimes people do awful things, but the individual liberty and freedom of law abiding citizens must not be compromised because of what was one isolated act of extreme violence.

Luke, LDN,

What a good idea. DNA everybody in the UK. Start from the top. Her Majesty, her husband, her children and their children. Then every member of parliament and all the judiciary, the police of every rank, civil servants, EVERYONE and then and only then can you have my DNA.

Al Roberts, Cardiff, Wales

It's only useful to have criminals' DNA. There's no benefit in having the DNA of non-criminals.

Allan, Torquay,

I am totally against a national ID card, but am in favour of a national DNA database. Inconsistent? No - because an ID card would be an unnecessary intrusion into my private life on a daily basis, whereas my DNA would only be checked out if it matched DNA found at the scene of a crime, and then I would rightly be asked to explain what it was doing there. If there were a national DNA database, and potential criminals knew that they would almost certainly be caught and punished for their crimes, this might prevent many vile crimes being committed, and save much suffering.

olly, London, UK

I think they do need a DNA database but it should be one that should be setup if someone commits a criminal act. It usually is the case that most of these types of crime have a 'trail' of smaller crimes which are not picked up. For a criminal to know that there exists a database with their DNA will mean they have to willfully plan a crime to take into account the existence of the database. Would the victim in this case have died as a consequence of the criminal knowing his details were on the database I would say she would not. 'Cos clearly from the article Dixie knew that DNA was incriminating. By having a DNA database of each criminal, this will give perpertrators pause for thought to any future crimes being committed and should give less work for the police who's reaction to any crime is usually to pull in the usual suspects into the tank. But DNA evidence alone should not be used to convict people, since we're breathing in dead people's DNA all the time in the air around us.

Zahir, Leeds, UK

What about the hospital worker reported only in the last fortnight who was arrested because his dna was found on a rape victim. Only the victim's insistence that her attacker was a large black man led to this small white man being released after a very long time. But what if he had been black? Or what if the attacker had been white? From the reports it was obvious that in spite of the victim's insistence, the police were practically trying to get her to change her evicence to match their "foolproof" dna. Think how many people's dna you pick up during the day, saliva, skin, hairs.
You just better hope that none of them get attacked by anyone who looks vaguely like you. I won't even start on their hopeless lack of security. National Police Computer, anyone?

Polly Parish, Tenby,

30s Berlin had nothing on this lot.

Mark, Liverpool,

No No he is making complete sense. In fact I think that every room in every home should have televisual cameras to enable the state to monitor its subjects in case they are up to no good. Useful too as the state could monitor the children living in the house for possible future anti-social or crimal behaviour. Come on Britain wake up! Do you want to feel safe on the streets or not? Those with nothing to hide will agree with me. The cameras woould not be an intrusion merely an instrument to make our society a better place to live in. All hail our Great leader Gordon Brown the saviour of our Country. War is peace. Strength through joy.

Gordon Willis, Luton, Uk

if giving my dna means that someone like Dixie is caught and caught fast, and therefore cannot kill again then i am delighted to give it. maybe the grumpy old cripple could just give her tyre tread pattern.

ed, Toronto, ON

I don't understand the opposition to such a database, i would willingly hand over a sample of my DNA if asked, because to be honest, i'm not intending on committing any crimes in the near future.

Surely this is no different than handing over any other information to law-enforcement officials, such as your whereabouts on a certain day, or testiment that could lead to a criminal conviction.

It seems that (just as with the issue of doner cards) some people are more concerned about themselves than the communities that work to save and protect them.

Mark , Reading,

For those in favour, it's ok to have a data base as you're not a criminal.............................until one day the government decides that something that you do is a criminal act (like smoking), and then a butt end is found with your DNA on it...........................the thin end of the wedge. The UK has become far too orwellian under this government and we need to protect our freedoms vigourously. My father once said to me 'better a guilty man free, than an innocent man in jail", as I have become older, I see his viewpoint more.

Rob, leeds, UK

A national DNA database is an disturbing Orwellian idea that gives me the creeps. There are certain classes of crime for which it makes sense to keep DNA e.g. those convicted of violence, murder, burglary, car theft and sex crimes because DNA can be really useful in investigating these types of crime.

Unfortunately, at the moment, the English police forces keep all DNA from everybody they charge with a crime irrespective of the seriousness of the offence and even if it they are acquitted before trial or it becomes obvious that they are innocent.

As some have already noted, there will almost certainly be people framed by planted DNA evidence in the future as well.

I suspect that many readers will not be aware of 'familial' DNA matching. Due to our biology, DNA from blood relatives can be partially matched to our own DNA e.g. let's say that one of my siblings is on the database and my DNA is found at a crime scene. The police will be able to determine that my DNA must belong to a blood relative of my sibling - clearly it will not be long before I am questioned by the police in this case. In effect, a large proportion of the population of this country are ALREADY on the database even though they may not realise that fact!

Lastly, the science relating to DNA analysis is quite recent and still advancing at a considerable pace. We don't really know where this will go in the future. How would you like to be tagged as a potential troublemaker as a child due to DNA analysis? Far fetched? Perhaps, but the science is already sophisticated enough to make a good guess at your eye colour based on a DNA sample alone.

Further commentary here: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/09/19/dna_database_report1/

Paul, Manchester,

DNA evidence is not fool proof!

A Christchurch, New Zealand, man spent 4 months being investigated by police because his DNA was contaminated with DNA collected at a murder scene on another island.

http://www.cpa.org.au/garchve2/997dna.html

There are many other examples to be found on the internet.

Colin Wilson, Wellington, New Zealand

A great idea seeing as how the government has such a good track record of keeping our personal data safe.

Shaz, Bristol,

CCTV on every corner.
DNA database of every citizen.
Coming soon:
* Mandatory GPS implant
* Neighbors required to file monthly reports on people next door.
* Tatooed ID number on forearm. (Oh wait, someone already tried that.)

Hey, you voted Stalinist, excuse me, I meant Labour.

Betty Fowler, Barking, Essex,

Suppose a student has handed out leaflets that the government considers subversive, unAmerican, enemy-of-the-people, ideologically diversionist, unpatriotic, conterrevolutionary, or whatever. Suppose that the student's DNA is on the leaflets (a small paper cut would do it). And suppose that the government has made the case, at least to its own satisfaction, that there is a threat to all that we hold dear loose in the land. It certainly will be easy for the authorities to round up any troublemakers handing out (or pasting up) leaflets.

Mark, New York, NY USA

I am in total agreement with national DNA databases being set up worldwide. If a person is not on a DNA register then they would not be permitted entry into whichever country they had travelled to without a blood sample taken. It would not prevent crime as such but it could help to catch the perpetrator of a crime before they could possibly do it again.
I recently watched a program of the schoolgirl raped and murdered while on a school holiday in France and the time it had taken to catch the rapist. If a database was in existance then that schoolgirl would probably still be alive because the DNA evidence he had left at his previous crimes would have led to his arrest.
Only the guilty would have anything to fear. Just think burglers would be traced if any evidence could be found at the crime scene, rapists, muggers, car theives could all be traced if they left the smallest drop of blood or saliva etc.

Stephen, Jarrow, England

Can we trust a national DNA database to be secure? What other information could be accessed from such a database? What would be the consequences if there was a breech of security? We need much more information before even contemplating a national DNA database.

Note that using traditional fingerprint evidence has been around for many years, but only convicted criminals ever had their fingerprints on record. It should be the same with DNA.

Mark, Beverley, UK

A foundational principle of every democratic society is that citizens are given the benefit of the doubt until proven otherwise. In other words, the presumption of innocence is the default position. The suggestion is, therefore, unworkable, because the police can only investigate upon a suspicion. Anything else would equate the abolition of the presumption of innocence, which would mean the collapse of the most fundamental principle of our criminal law.

Gregory, London,

No one is having my DNA ever, unless i say so and i won't.
As a 59 yr old cripple its highly unlikely i would start a life of crime, if i decided to then i'd let the police know myself as it would be a minor miracle seeing as i can hardly get out of the chair.
I would consider it assault if i was forced and will take the appropriate legal action as i hope everyone else would.

Samantha Jones, Bucks, England

it's a perfectly reasonable and sensible idea, dear chap. nothing to hide, nothing to worry about. you don't object to being or refuse to be screened at the airport, do you? same principle. jez dobbs, essex, uk

jez dobbs, southend, uk

I have nothing to hide but being a diligent student of history I know that we have a lot to fear from the 'state'. A compulsory DNA database fundamentally shifts power from people to the state and that shift is not compatible with living in a free society. I have not voted to abandon my freedom and I see no reason why a handful of murders should justify our freedom being stolen from us. To the "nothing to fear nothing to hide" brigade there is no better quote than this

" First they came for the Jews, and I didn't speak out - because I was not a Jew. Then they came for the Communists, and I did not speak out because I was not a Communist. Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out -because I was not a trade unionist. Then they came for me and there was no one left to speak for me!"

If you don't know where that come from then find out and think again before you so easily undermine the liberty it has taken us centuries to achieve.

Boris, Newcastle, UK

Maybe the police should just have to roll up their sleeves and do their job the old fashioned way.
Remember, if it gets too easy, some of you will lose your jobs.

Tim, Toronto,

I know that there are emotive issues here, but never having raped or otherwise assaulted anyone, I don't see why my details should go onto a police database, to satisfy those who want to turn the UK into a police state. I am sick and tired of the 'if you've got nothing to hide you've got nothing to fear' argument. That is the rule of the Stasi.

Paul, Coventry,

A NATIONAL DNA DATABASE ??!!! That's just plain Orwellian! The whole point of privacy is that government MAY NOT make demands which invade upon one's private personal details. No government in the World has any authority to demand DNA from any law abiding private citizen. Period. Such a system is ripe for abuse and the unintended consequences could be significant. (Want to frame someone? Leave one of their hairs at a crime scene.... etc.)

Furthermore, there is no crime on earth which would justify the creation of a "National" DNA database which comprises the DNA of persons not suspected of crimes. Period. What an incredible intrusion upon every individual's privacy. Unconscionable! Outrageous!!! Anyone suggesting this should be tarred and feathered post haste.

If you want to share your DNA voluntarily, go right ahead. But no one, NO ONE, can command it.

Scott, Durham, NC, USA

Everyone should have their DNA stored in a national database and then we could save money because the workload for the police force will be alot lighter and easier. However, criminals may start being smarter by planting DNA and incriminating innocent people, but then that would mean the whole crime was premeditated therefore saving alot of time a trials and finding the criminals guilty with no loopholes.
For those who are against the whole idea only have something to hide!?!

Jamie, Preston, UK

Another knee-jerk reactive call to load the State with even more powers at the expense of the privacy of the individual.
Wisdom in policy-making should be evidenced in building communities, growing people - not in making them smaller & even more powerless.

A truly disgusting crime, yes. The best response - don't think so.

Simon Ferguson, Llanelli,

What if the DNA sample in question is contaminated with somebody elses DNA in a perfectly innocent manner? Will the perfectly innocent owner of that DNA have to potentially explain his way out of a murder investigation? I sincerely hope that this will not turn into another fiasco because it has not been thought through thoroughly.

Chris, Aberdeen,