A Picture of Innocence
I’m just trying to get my head around the Government’s announcement that your DNA can be kept for up to 12 years even if you haven’t committed a crime.
‘Innocent until proven guilty’ seems to have been replaced with a new NuLabour 3 tier system:
1 – We assume you’re guilty so we’ll be tracking your every move, listening to all your conversations and watching everything you do.
2 – We think you have or are about to commit a crime so we will arrest you and take your DNA and fingerprints. Obviously the fact that we did this means you are sure to commit a crime sometime soon so we will keep that information and use it when you do.
3 – You really have committed a crime and will be punished accordingly – the higher the profile the victim or the higher the financial sums involved, the greater the penalty.
Aside from the obvious issues here, what about crimes that don’t involve DNA such as financial crimes, fraud, even whistleblowing (which is obviously criminal). Will these criminals also have their DNA taken in case they progress to more violent crimes?
Of course there would be one good thing to come out of this – more people will be found to have been wrongly imprisoned for a crime they didn’t commit. When this happens we can surely trust that the state will prosecute those involved ie the police who faked evidence and they will be charged…and presumably have their DNA taken for when they offend next time.
Yet again, double standards from this Government, who are happy to play politics with the lives of the soldiers who serve this country.
Aaaaargh! 