DNA From Children

[brummie]

I have mixed feelings about the growing keeping of information by government agencies who are not particularly good at keeping it. It seems to be a regular occurrence that some government minister or another has left a laptop/harddrive/disc in a train/taxi containing all manner of personal details, the more info given to them the greater the risk of losing it! On the other hand I can see the positive advantages to detection: see http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/8037972.stm . I also wonder if we are not in danger of seeing DNA as the be all and end all of a case, as I understand it no DNA is ever 100% accurate so just how accurate does evidence have to be. Also perhaps someone can answer this question- how long does DNA remain at the scene? For instance if you stay overnight in a hotel room and a few days later crime is committed in that room would your DNA still be recovered?

[smezenen]

Brummie,
The way I understand it. The best and most reliable DNA samples are taken from soft tissue or body fluids. Those sample degrade once the sample dries out. DNA can be obtained from dried blood, saliva, semen, and other body fluids but the lenght of time, tempurature, humidity and other factors will take a toll on how good of a sample you get.

So if you leave a drop of blood in a hotel room and a murder occures in the next few days then I would expect that if your blood drop where found and processed then your DNA would be found.

[brummie]

I just wonder how long it will be before the ultimate big brother state where DNA samples are taken at every birth and from every citizen and a record of everyones DNA is on file. Maybe not acceptable to society as a whole now but how long in the future? We have already seen talk of biometric information such as iris recognition on a national ID card scheme (hopefully now sidelined after much opposition) http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/4630045.stm

[Bob Hinton]

Totalitarian State

What I think is the most disgraceful about the way things are going in Britain is the acceptance that perfectly innocent people can be punished, not by accident but by design.

One of the Governments stealth taxes involved setting up the Criminal Records Bureau. This was trumpeted as being for the protection of the weak and vulnerable. It is of course nothing of the sort and is simply another way of the Government grabbing more of your money.

What is so sinister about this whole set up is the fact that you don’t actually need to be a criminal to get on the record. If you are arrested then subsequently released or acquitted, it doesn’t matter; you are in the records and when you try and get a job and your future employer checks up on you, you will have a CRB black mark against you. Obviously no employer is going to employ you after that.

But it gets worse. You don’t even have to be arrested now, someone only has to think you are unfit to get on the list.

A teacher recently changed jobs and when applying to a new school for employment she was turned down because her CRB check came back as her being unsuitable to work with children.

After a lot of fuss and stress she found out that some time before she was in the park with her three children, two just into their teens and one of eight years old. When the little one wanted to go to the toilet, being a responsible mother she escorted her there, leaving her two older children sitting on a bench with a few yards of the toilet.

She was seen doing this and reported to the police. The police did not approach her but simply put her in the CRB register. The horrifying thing is this wasn’t a mistake that could be corrected, as the CRB stated this was correct procedure and within the rules.

So now innocent people are being treated as criminals – I suppose it had to come since so many criminals are being treated as innocents.

[rain]

What I think is the most disgraceful about the
But it gets worse. You don’t even have to be arrested now, someone only has to think you are unfit to get on the list.

A teacher recently changed jobs and when applying to a new school for employment she was turned down because her CRB check came back as her being unsuitable to work with children.

After a lot of fuss and stress she found out that some time before she was in the park with her three children, two just into their teens and one of eight years old. When the little one wanted to go to the toilet, being a responsible mother she escorted her there, leaving her two older children sitting on a bench with a few yards of the toilet.

She was seen doing this and reported to the police. The police did not approach her but simply put her in the CRB register. The horrifying thing is this wasn’t a mistake that could be corrected, as the CRB stated this was correct procedure and within the rules.

So now innocent people are being treated as criminals – I suppose it had to come since so many criminals are being treated as innocents.

unless it is a very bad area, I don't see the harm in two pre teens by themselves.