ARGUMENTS FOR:
- A DNA database covering the whole population and every visitor to the UK, as advocated by Lord Justice Sedley, would save massive amounts of police time and help clear up crimes faster.
- Those who do nothing wrong have nothing to fear and should be reassured.
- The current system - the DNA of all those arrested for recordable offences, guilty or not, is retained - is selective and inefficient.
- Current practice is unfair: ethnic minorities and young people are over-represented, creating resentment and anti-police feeling. Two-in-five black men have their DNA on record, as against fewer than one-in-ten whites.
- The world has changed: international mobility means that potential terrorists can come and go, often on false papers.
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