Law Reform Commission calls for limited DNA database

A limited DNA database should be established, according to the Law Reform Commission.

A limited DNA database should be established, according to the Law Reform Commission.

The recommendation comes in the final report on the subject from the commission. This follows the publication of a consultation paper on the subject in March 2004, on foot of a request from the Attorney General.

The Government, through the AG, seeks the views of the commission when contemplating new legislation that could be difficult or complex.

The AG will launch the report later today.

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The commission proposes legislation which would establish a statutory body, the forensic science agency, which would incorporate the Forensic Science Laboratory and would be the custodian of the DNA database.

According to the LRC, the purposes of the database should be stated in precise terms in primary legislation. It should be used for the purposes of criminal investigations and proceedings.

The database should include DNA from deceased persons, both victims of crimes and, in certain circumstances, those suspected of crimes.

In the latter case, a court should authorise the matching of the DNA of the deceased person to samples taken from the crime scene.

It should also be possible to seek a High Court order to use the DNA database to help identify a person so severely injured as to be unidentifiable.

The report also spells out the circumstances in which people's DNA samples can be placed on the database. These include those suspected of crimes, those convicted of crimes and those who consent in writing to have DNA samples taken in order to further the investigation of a particular offence. Refusal to provide a sample should not be taken as a reasonable ground to suspect that person's involvement, it states.

Samples can be taken from suspects or those convicted without their consent, normally by mouth swabbing, but subject to safeguards to ensure reasonable force is used. Where a suspect has provided a sample, it must be removed if the person is acquitted or if no prosecution is pursued.

Where a person is convicted of a serious offence, the sample will remain on the database.

A volunteer's sample can only be retained on the database if he or she gives clear written informed consent.

Samples from crime scenes should be kept indefinitely, according to the LRC.