DNA database criminals

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Swati Rao
The creation of a database of DNA would allow police to use DNA in order to search for a suspect, rather than merely to provide evidence once a suspect has been apprehended. The British police have operated a database of the DNA of convicted criminals since 1995. New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani has proposed that a DNA sample be taken from every newborn. However, it would be possible to require that the database contains only the DNA fingerprint of persons arrested or even only the profiles of convicted criminals.

Would a DNA database help improve the accuracy of the criminal justice system?
 
A DNA database would not be intended to replace conventional criminal investigation: The database ought to identify the potential suspects, each of whom can then be investigated by more conventional means.There is no possibility of escaping the provision of technical evidence before a court. Doctors, ballistics experts, forensic scientists are already a common feature of the large criminal trial. The jury system is actually a bastion against conviction on account of complicated scientific facts.
 
The initial and continuing expense of a DNA database would be a gross misapplication of finite public resources: Public confidence in the criminal justice system will neither be improved by requiring them to give time and tissue to the police, nor by the creation of a novel bureaucracy dedicated to administering the database.The funds would be better directed towards increased recruitment of police officers and their more regular deployment on foot patrol.
 
The latest discovery was made possible by finding DNA on his jacket, which belonged to a 48-year-old housewife who disappeared in November 2008.

The police could have caught him earlier if there had been a database of criminals' DNA, including Kang's. The tragic death of the 21-year-old college girl could have been prevented.

A criminal DNA bank, which has been already widely embraced in many advanced countries, is nowhere near being adopted in Korea.
 
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