Britain's race watchdogs plan to investigate the national DNA database to fight crime after revelations that a majority of young black men will soon have their profiles stored.
LONDON: Britain's race watchdogs plan to investigate the national DNA database to fight crime after revelations that a majority of young black men will soon have their profiles stored.
An estimated 135,000 black males aged 15 to 34 will be entered in the crime-fighting database by April, equivalent to as many as 77 per cent of the young black male population in England and Wales. By contrast only 22 per cent of young white males, and six per cent of the general population, will be on the database.
Trevor Phillips, the chairman of the Commission for Racial Equality, vowed to examine whether the database breached race relations laws.
"This is tantamount to criminalizing a generation of young black men," he told The Sunday Telegraph.
All arrested crime suspects have their DNA taken and their profile stored for life, even if they are later cleared or the arrest is found to be a case of mistaken identity. Even children under 10 can have their DNA recorded.
Phillips disclosed that his officials will investigate whether the policy of retaining DNA from suspects who are never convicted of a crime results in discrimination against black men, who are more likely to come into contact with police than their white counterparts.
"Stop and search statistics suggest that black males are more likely to be stopped simply because they are young black males," he said.
"This database figure is just perpetuating this stereotype, and does nothing to instill confidence in a measure that seeks to serve all members of our community. It is provocative, unfair and unjust and will do little to reduce crime."
"It would be fairer to have a database that restricts itself to storing the DNA profiles of those who are convicted, rather than this fast and loose approach, which opens up the potential for discrimination."
"As enforcers of the Race Relations Act, the CRE will be investigating if this complies with the race equality duty to promote positive race relations. If we discover that the database fails to comply with the law, then we have to consider what legal steps we can take."
The new figures, calculated from the Home Office's own projections, will fuel fears that Britain is becoming a 'surveillance society' in which some ethnic groups are monitored more closely than others.
By April 2007, the DNA database will hold 3.7 million profiles including three million "white-skinned Europeans" and 257,099 "Afro-Caribbeans."
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