DNA-Based Criminal Investigation: Problems and Prospects

Abstract

Although DNA testing has developed into a useful and cost-effective instrument in the investigation of crime, there are still many controversies surrounding the method. The author brings up the most important questions, for which only partial answers have been found: Under what conditions may biological material found at a crime scene be analysed for DNA? Under what conditions may a suspect be obliged to provide a cell sample for DNA analysis? Which information can be extracted from cell material taken from a suspect or found at a crime scene? Under what conditions a DNA sample may be entered in a national database and how long should it be kept? Under what conditions may a mass DNA screening be carried out? Countries differ in their laws concerning DNA testing. Referring to the question that the UK’s government transmitted to the National Commission on Human Genetics in 2003 – ‘whether it would be useful to have a general DNA register into which the DNA of every newborn in the UK would be entered’ – the author predicts that we are now striving for the general and unconditional registration of DNA from all citizens. The article leaves us with an open question: Setting aside the legal and ethical questions stemming from long-range genetic information and the data protection issues, do societies really want to treat their citizens as generally suspicious of either having committed a crime or being likely to commit a crime in future?

Keywords

• dochodzenia kryminalne
• dna
• badania dna
• bazy danych dna
• dna-based criminal investigation
• criminal investigation
• dna databases