A national DNA database is a government database of DNA profiles which can be used by law enforcement agencies to identify suspects of crimes.
The first government database (NDNAD) was set up by the United Kingdom in April 1995. The second one was set up in New Zealand. France set up the FNAEG in 1998. In the USA, the FBI has organized the CODIS database. Originally intended for sex offenders, they have since been extended to include almost any criminal offender.
In England and Wales, anyone arrested on suspicion of a recordable offence must submit a DNA sample, the profile of which is then stored on the DNA database as a permanent record. In Scotland, the law requires the DNA profiles of most people who are acquitted be removed from the database. In Sweden, only the DNA profiles of criminals who have spent more than two years in prison are stored. In Norway and Germany, court orders are required, and are only available, respectively, for serious offenders and for those convicted of certain offences and who are likely to reoffend. Forty-nine states in the USA, all apart from Idaho, store DNA profiles of violent offenders, and a few also store profiles of suspects. In 2005 the incoming Portuguese government proposed to introduce a DNA database of the entire population of Portugal. However, after informed debate including opinion from the Portuguese Ethics Council the database introduced was of just the criminal population.
Read more about National DNA Database: Scope of Databases, DNA Databases and Medicine, DNA Collection and Human Rights, Illegal Registers
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