Crimes solved through DNA technology quadruple
Published: January 5, 2006
he number of crimes solved through DNA technology has quadrupled over the past five years in Britain, according to the Home Office.
Britain’s DNA database now holds three million samples, and the number will rise to 4.25 million within two years, BBC reported on Wednesday.
Suspects arrested over any imprisonable offense can have their DNA held even if they are acquitted, said the report.
Home Office figures indicated that the database covers 139,463 people never charged or cautioned with an offense.
Matches using newly-lawful DNA samples have been made to 88 murders, 45 attempted murders, 116 rapes and 62 sexual offenses.
In all, 7,500 of these have been matched to 10,000 offenses.
The Home Office report showed that 5.24 percent of the British population now has a DNA profile held on the database, compared with an average of 1.13 percent in the European Union and 0.5 percent in the United States.
There has been a 74 percent rise in the number of crimes where potential DNA material is collected, and a 75 percent increase in the number of matches of suspects to crime scenes.
Police can now track down offenders by matching samples with other family members who may be on the database.
The number of samples on the database has trebled in the last five years. More than 15,000 volunteers, including victims of crime, also gave samples in response to police appeals.
Although there are doubts that database expansion risks human rights violation, many feel it is essential to reverse the trend of rising crime in Britain.
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