Judge suggests all-UK DNA database
September 6th, 2007
A British judge is suggesting an all-inclusive DNA database. The twisted thing is the rationale:
The present database in England and Wales holds details of 4m people who are guilty or cleared of a crime.
Lord Justice Sedley said this was indefensible and biased against ethnic minorities, and it would be fairer to include everyone, guilty or innocent.
[...]
He said the only option was to expand the database to cover the whole population and all those who visited the UK, even for a weekend.
It’s hard to tell if Sedley is attempting to reduce the argument of a DNA database to its absurd extreme or if actually believes that this is an acceptable solution, but nothing in the article indicates he might be anything but serious.