UK DNA database "breach of rights"

1 Dec 2008 |

• European Court of Human Rights struck down a British law that allows the government to store DNA and fingerprints from people with no criminal record. According to the judgment, keeping DNA samples and fingerprints was in violation of people’s right to a private life. Referring to article 40 of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, the Court noted that ‘the retention of the *unconvicted persons’ data may be especially harmful in the case of minors* (…) given their special situation and the importance of their development and integration in society’’. The European court complaint was brought by Michael Marper, 45, and a 19-year-old named only as "S*"because he was 12 when he was arrested*. The case originated when British police refused to destroy DNA samples of two Britons whose criminal cases were dropped.