Racial Demographics and Controversy
Census data and Home Office statistics indicate that almost 40% of black men have their DNA profile on the database compared to 13% of Asian men and 9% of white men.
In July 2006, the Black Police Association has called for an inquiry into why the database holds details of 37% of black men but fewer than 10% of white men.
In November 2006, similar concerns were raised by the Sunday Telegraph which found that three in four young black men were on the DNA database.
According to the Sunday Telegraph, an estimated 135,000 black males aged 15 to 34 would have been added to the DNA database by April 2007, equivalent to 77 percent of the young black male population in England and Wales.
By contrast, only 22 per cent of young white males, and six per cent of the general population, will be on the database.
This figure was confirmed by the British Government’s own Human Genetics Commission 2009 report on the topic, titled Nothing to hide, nothing to fear? Balancing individual rights and the public interest in the governance and use of the National DNA Database, which said that “the profiles of over three quarters of young black men between the ages of 18 and 35 are recorded.”
The most common explanation for the racial disparities has been accusations of police racism and racial bias, as evidenced by the reaction of the then chair of the home affairs select committee, Keith Vaz MP, in August 2009 who said that “Such disparity in the treatment of different ethnic groups is bound to lead to a disintegration of community relations and a lack of trust in the police force."
These allegations have been denied by the National Policing Improvement Agency (NPIA), which used to run the National DNA database. According to the NPIA, the database is a successful tool in fighting crime and points out that “between April 09 and 28th January 2010 the National DNA Database produced 174 matches to murder, 468 to rapes and 27,168 to other crime scenes.”
In addition, the NPIA says that the “National DNA Database continues to provide police with the most effective tool for the prevention and detection of crime since the development of fingerprint analysis over 100 years ago. Since 1998, more than 300,000 crimes have been detected with the aid of the Database, reassuring the public that offenders are more likely to be brought to justice.”
Tellingly, the NPIA points out that of all of the subject profiles retained on the DNA Database by ethnic appearance as at 16 October 2009, 77.57% were “White North European”, 2.06% were “White South European,” 7.83% were black, 5.67% were Asian, 0.82% were Middle Eastern, 0.69% were Chinese, Japanese or South East Asian, and 5.365 were unknown.
These figures would indicate that whites still form a majority of the DNA database records, but that individual groups within ethnic communities have a disproportionate presence on the database relative to their numbers.
Read more about this topic: United Kingdom National DNA Database
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