Forensic Identification: The Criminal Investigation (From Forensic Identification and Criminal Justice: Forensic Science, Justice and Risk, P 31-67, 2006, Carole McCartney, -- See NCJ-216086)

• NCJ Number: 216088
• Author(s): Carole McCartney
• Date Published: 2006
• Length: 37 pages
• Sale Source: Willan Publishing
• Publication Format: Book Chapter
• Publication Type: Legislation/Policy Analysis
• Language: English
• Country: United Kingdom

Annotation

This chapter examines the legal issues surrounding the collection and use of DNA evidence during police investigations in the United Kingdom.

Abstract

The analysis focuses on the legal framework governing the non-consensual taking and retaining of DNA samples from suspects in the course of police investigations. The author illustrates the tensions between expanding police powers to take DNA samples as part of their criminal investigations and the right of individuals to protect against self-incrimination. The author begins with a review of how an over-reliance on DNA evidence by police in the course of their investigation may actually hamper investigations and lead to miscarriages of justice along with violations of personal privacy rights. The use of targeted intelligence screenings by police in the United Kingdom is reviewed along with the legislative responses to mass screenings in both the United Kingdom and the United States. Targeted intelligence screenings involve the supposedly consensual collection of fingerprint or other DNA evidence from a large target population in order to detect a criminal suspect. While the United Kingdom has generally used such mass screenings to successfully capture and prosecute the most violent criminals, courts in the United States have rejected the use of mass screenings on the grounds that they are not consensual and violate the fourth amendment. UK legislation that provides consequences for those who do not comply with requests for DNA samples is reviewed, including the creation of separate offenses for refusing a sample and allowing adverse inferences to be drawn in court for those who do not consent to samples. Ethical issues regarding the disclosure of DNA evidence to criminal suspects during interrogations are considered followed by a description of the United Kingdom’s DNA Expansion Programme, which earmarks funding to increase the collection of DNA samples and to build a national database. The analysis also focuses on whether the argument against self-incrimination can successfully be used to deny the taking of DNA samples. Footnotes