300 CHILDREN A DAY SWABBED FOR DNA IN AND AROUND LONDON TOWNE

IN ENGLAND, 300 CHILDREN A DAY ARE STOPPED BY POLICE AND SWABBED FOR DNA FOR THE DATABASE

FROM THE TELEGRAPH

More than 300 children a day have their DNA taken by the police and added to the national database.

Already 412,670 youngsters under 15 have their genetic profiles stored.

Once 15 to 17-year-olds are added, the total rises to an astonishing 1.1million, according to Freedom of Information replies revealed yesterday.

The DNA samples, from children as young as ten, are kept regardless of whether or not they were ever charged.

Critics accuse the police of arresting entire groups of youngsters simply to have their DNA to checked against evidence from crime scenes in future.

This year alone, police forces have taken DNA from 54,311 subjects aged 10 to 17, according to information obtained by Jo Shaw, the Liberal Democrat parliamentary candidate for Holborn and St Pancras. She said: 'Labour's approach to tackling crime is unfair, heavy-handed and ineffective.'

There are around five million people on the DNA database - making it the largest in the world. Of these, at least 850,000 are innocents who have never been convicted of any crime. On this basis, around 200,000 of the children on the database will be innocent.

The samples were taken under rules introduced by Tony Blair which allow suspects to be swabbed as soon as they are arrested.

Miss Shaw said: 'Storing the DNA of thousands of innocent young people is unlikely to solve our crime problems, but is a costly way of stigmatising young people. If you're innocent, you shouldn't have your data kept for years."

The Metropolitan Police is the worst culprit, stockpiling DNA from 144,487 young people over the last decade. The force takes DNA from thirteen children under 15 every day.
DNA graphic

Liberal Democrat spokesman Chris Huhne said: 'Innocent people should be removed from the database immediately and kids should stop being targeted to boost numbers.'

After a crushing ruling by the European Court of Human Rights last December, police will no longer be allowed to store the DNA of innocents indefinitely.

But the Home Office's proposals for complying with the ruling have proved highly controversial.

Any child convicted of a serious offence will remain on the database indefinitely - as will adults - but youngsters convicted of only one minor offence will be deleted when they turn 18.

Those wrongly accused of a minor crime will also have their DNA removed at 18. but children accused, but not convicted, of a serious crime will have theirs stored for 12 years.

There will also be a 'two strikes and you're out' policy, where children accused twice of minor offences will remain on the database for at least six years - even if they are cleared both times.

Helen Wallace, director of campaign group Genewatch UK, said: 'An excessive number of children and young people are being added to the database and there is no evidence it is helping to solve serious crimes. The numbers should be significantly reduced and innocent people removed.'

The Home Office said: 'The number of young people on the DNA database reflects the number who have been arrested for a recordable offence. That is an important threshold, as arrest must be based on a reasonable suspicion that the person is involved in the offence.

'We recognise the need for special consideration when dealing with young people and have consulted on proposals to remove juveniles from the database when they turn 18 provided they are not re-arrested and are not convicted of serious, violent or sexual offences. We have also removed all under-10s.'