Hmmm, I’m starting to get that raised eyebrow feeling more often than not. Earlier this month we saw that the Aussie police want to have carte blanche search warrants for computer systems. Now we see that the UK police want to record the DNA of kids as young as 5 “in case” they might commit a crime later on. This is based on “if they exhibit behaviour indicating they may become criminals in later life”.
Um, ex-squeeze me? So, if little Billy hits Johnnie over the head with a plastic hammer at recess he could become a violent felon later on? Weak, very weak.
From the Guardian UK:
‘If we have a primary means of identifying people before they offend, then in the long-term the benefits of targeting younger people are extremely large,’ said Pugh. ‘You could argue the younger the better. Criminologists say some people will grow out of crime; others won’t. We have to find who are possibly going to be the biggest threat to society.’
Pugh admitted that the deeply controversial suggestion raised issues of parental consent, potential stigmatisation and the role of teachers in identifying future offenders, but said society needed an open, mature discussion on how best to tackle crime before it took place. There are currently 4.5 million genetic samples on the UK database – the largest in Europe – but police believe more are required to reduce crime further. ‘The number of unsolved crimes says we are not sampling enough of the right people,’ Pugh told The Observer. However, he said the notion of universal sampling – everyone being forced to give their genetic samples to the database – is currently prohibited by cost and logistics.
Civil liberty groups condemned his comments last night by likening them to an excerpt from a ‘science fiction novel’. One teaching union warned that it was a step towards a ‘police state’.
Next thing they’ll be trotting out phrenology. Rent the Minority Report to get a glimpse of just how bad things could get. Albeit, a sci-fi but still you get the idea.
this is truely ‘redicrurous’
mankind will never cease to amuse itself
they should have had a better PR person, had they spun it as a DNA database to help identify lost/kidnapped children i’m sure people would have gladly given that sample.