Campaigners have welcomed the Government’s commitment to destroy millions of samples of DNA from innocent citizens from the national criminal database.
The provisions set out in The Freedom Bill have dealt a death blow to the database which critic argued criminalised black Britons. DNA samples of innocent people have been taken from every section of the UK’s African Caribbean community including children.
A three year campaign by Black Mental Health UK (BMHUK) calling for the removal of innocent people’s DNA from the national database brought to the nation’s attention the fact that per cent of the black male population and 77 per cent of all young black men are profiled on the database.
The previous Labour government allowed the DNA samples of innocent people to be stored on the criminal database indefinitely. Those profiled on this database are automatically treated as a suspect in any future crime and can also be turned down for a visa or a job.
The Freedom Bill will change that and also benefit mental health service users from the community and volunteer workers wanting to work with them. The present law has resulted in service users ending up on the database when they were in a crisis and were picked up by the police.
People from the community who wanted to volunteer to their support to help this group were often hindered as it required mandatory clearance. These restrictions will be removed and police will be ordered to destroy all samples except for those linked to violent offences.
Matilda MacAttram director of Black Mental Health UK said: “We welcome the planned changes but are aware that this Bill is only a start. We need to ensure that what this Government has committed to does result in the restorations of our most basic rights and freedoms.”
Source: BMHUK
