European Court of Human Rights: Keeping Innocent Individuals’ DNA in Criminal Database Violates Human Rights: Via Privacy Lives

The European Court of Human Rights today ruled (pdf) unanimously that retaining innocent individuals’ genetic data in the UK National DNA Database was a violation of human rights, specifically “the right to respect for his private and family life” set out in Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights (pdf). The decision affects individuals age 10 or older who have been acquitted or had charges against them dropped after their arrest in England, Wales, or Northern Ireland.

As of September 2008, the UK National DNA Database contained genetic profiles and linked DNA samples from 4.5 million individuals. As of March 2008, “857,366 people on the National DNA Database did not have a current criminal record,” according to a UK official.

The Court noted that DNA evidence is useful for criminal investigations. However, “the protection afforded by Article 8 of the Convention would be unacceptably weakened if the use of modern scientific techniques in the criminal-justice system were allowed at any cost and without carefully balancing the potential benefits of the extensive use of such techniques against important private-life interests.”

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