British DNA database violates human rights, court
« Thread Started on Dec 4, 2008, 7:32am »

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British DNA database violates human rights, court rules
Posted: 06:38 AM ET
By Richard Allen Greene
CNN
(CNN) — The British police practice of keeping DNA records of anyone
they arrest violates human rights, The European Court of Human Rights ruled
unanimously Thursday.

Two Britons took the case to the court after the police retained their
fingerprints and DNA when criminal cases against them ended without conviction.
Both then requested that their fingerprints, DNA samples and profiles be
destroyed — but their request was denied on the basis of a British law
authorizing it to be retained indefinitely.

The court awarded them 42,000 euros ($53,000) to cover their legal costs.

The court was “struck by the blanket and indiscriminate nature of the
power of retention in England and Wales,” it said in a statement announcing the
ruling.

It ruled the British practice was a violation of the “right to respect
for private and family life” under Article 8 of the European Convention of
Human Rights. The applicants also complained under Article 14, which prohibits
discrimination, but the court said it was not necessary to examine the second
complaint separately.

The two applicants are both from the northern English city of Sheffield.
One, Michael Marper, was arrested in March 2001 and charged with harassment of
his partner. The case was formally discontinued three months later when he and
his partner reconciled.

The second applicant, a minor identified in court papers only as S., was
arrested in January 2001, aged 11, for attempted robbery. He was acquitted in
June 2001, on the same day the case against Marper was dropped.