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The NDNAD II |
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Children on the National DNA Database A quarter of all profiles currently on NDNAD were taken when the suspect was under 18. During the period 1995 to 2007, 4.2m profiles were added to the NDNAD. 1.1m of these came from under-18s, of which half a million were from under-16s.
The Home Office has not been able to supply accurate figures for the number of children on NDNAD who have never been proceeded against nor reprimanded for any offence. Home Office figures indicate that at March 2007, NDNAD contained 358,012 profiles relating to under-18s. ARCH has some doubts as to the accuracy of this figure. Taking figures from Table 1, the total number of children added during the two-year period 05-07 is only slightly lower than the Home Office estimate of the entire under-18 representation on the database. It is difficult to see how it can be correct. Whilst we appreciate that some children will have turned 18 since the figures were released, NDNAD contains profiles of children from the age of 10, and others will have replaced the 18-year-olds in what is a clear upward trend.
The Home Office claims that, because of ‘replication’ (inadvertent duplication of samples) their figure of 358,012 actually represents 309,215 children and that 276,262 of these children have been charged, cautioned, or received a final warning or reprimand. If we were to accept the ‘replication rate’ that has been applied to these figures (and, indeed, the figures themselves) this would mean that 32,953 children currently on NDNAD had no further action taken by the police after their DNA was taken. This figure appears consistent with the NDNAD Annual Report for 2005/05 (page 33) which states that a Home Office exercise in December 2005 estimated that about 24,000 of the records on the NDNAD related to persons who were under 18 when their samples were obtained and against whom no further action was taken.
However, if the replication rate is wrong (but if the other figures are correct), there could be up to 81,750 children who have not been charged, cautioned, or received a final warning reprimand on the Database. In addition, there are an unknown number of other children who were charged but subsequently were acquitted or had their charges dropped, so the number of children without any kind of criminal record would be higher than this. ARCH questions the replication rate of 13.7% on the grounds that it does not take into account several important factors that apply to children.
Why are there duplicate profiles on NDNAD? When NDNAD was first introduced, it was difficult for the police to check whether a suspect already had a profile on the database and they therefore took further samples. Sometimes this duplication was missed when the profile was loaded on to the database, particularly if suspects had given false names or there were errors in the accompanying data. Most of these errors occurred prior to 2005 – many of them before 2000, when the systems were relatively new and difficulties were still being ironed out. From 2005 onwards, strenuous efforts were put into dealing with the problem of replicate samples. You may find this article in The Register (May 2007) helpful.
Is it correct to apply the replication rate to children? While it is correct to say that many replicates still exist in relation to the whole of the database population, this high replication rate of 13.7% is unlikely to apply in the case of children. Anyone who was aged 10-18 prior to 2000 is now adult and is no longer counted in the number of children’s profiles. The same is true of anyone who reached their 15th birthday by 2005. It should also be borne in mind that children are less likely to go undetected if they give false names at the police station because of the necessity of contacting their parents/carers. Although it is possible that there is some replication of samples relating to children, we find it hard to believe that it is anything like the 13.7% quoted for the whole database.
What is the likely figure for innocent children on NDNAD? If we remove the replication rate altogether for children - and assume that the Home Office figures are correct - the number of children on NDNAD who have never been proceeded against rises to 81,750. In addition, there will be an unknown number of children who were charged but subsequently acquitted or had charges against them dropped. It seems likely that the total number of innocent children with records on the DNA Database at the end of March 2007 is therefore closer to the number estimated by GeneWatch UK and ARCH, based on the number of new arrests of young people that take place every year – i.e. at least 100,000. Child arrest rates have rocketed in the past two years - as we explain further on - making it likely that this higher figure is nearer the mark. |
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