BY: Aisha Mohamed, Leyla Sugule, Safia Artan, Farhiya Mohamed

and Hannah Bhikha.

CAMPAIGN IN FAVOR OF DNA TESTING IN ORDER TO REDUCE CRIME

• We are a group called Double Helix and we are campaigning for compulsory DNA testing to become a law in order to reduce crime. Our campaign is called Cease Crime and we are doing a number of activities to make ourselves heard by the public and decision-makers.

INTRODUCTION

AIMS

• For our campaign we are trying to raise awareness of compulsory DNA testing in order to reduce crime.Our aims are:

• To make our society aware of compulsory DNA and the benefits it has so it can be accepted as a law.

• To look at different view points and opinions and persuade the general public that compulsory DNA testing is the future.

CURRENT POSITION

• Under some state laws, DNA samples are collected from people who have been convicted of major crimes, such as rape and homicide. Prosecutors can also get a court order to take blood and DNA samples if they have probable cause to target an individual in an investigation. New York's police commissioner proposed in 1998 to collect DNA samples from everyone arrested in New York. In 2005 the incoming Portuguese government proposed to introduce a DNA database of the entire population of Portugal but later decided against it, only putting criminals onto the database.

•DNA testing is seen as an infringement of civil liberties especially when DNA profiles are stored from people who have nothing to do with a particular criminal offence.

•There are concerns that the finding of trace amounts of DNA can falsely implicate a person in a criminal investigation.

• There are also concerns that the complexity of testing and data storage means errors could occur.

• DNA profiles could be related (eventually) to certain illnesses and character traits and this information would be used by insurance companies and other organisations to the disadvantage of the individual.

WHY IS DNA TESTING NOT A LAW?

SHOULD DNA TESTING BE A LAW?• "We have a situation where if you happen to have been in the

hands of the police then your DNA is on permanent record. If you haven't, it isn't. It means where there is ethnic profiling going on disproportionate numbers of ethnic minorities get onto the database. It also means that a great many people who are walking the streets and whose DNA would show them guilty of crimes, go free.“ –Lord Justice Sedley.

• DNA testing has proved to be a remarkably effective check on mistakes in the criminal justice system. These tests have exonerated more than 200 people post conviction – some on their way to executed.

CASE STUDY • Case : In 1997, Timothy Durham of Tulsa, Oklahoma, was

released from prison after serving four years for a rape that he could not have committed. At his trial, he was able to produce 11 alibi witnesses who placed him in another state at the time of the crime, but he was still convicted of raping an 11-year-old girl and sentenced to 30 years in prison. The prosecution's case rested on three pieces of evidence: he was identified by the victim; a hair found at the crime scene was shown to be similar to his; and a DNA test showed that his profile matched that of the semen recovered from the girl. A repeat DNA test later revealed that the initial result was a false positive that had arisen because of errors in interpreting a mixed sample. The lab had failed to completely separate the male and female DNA and the combination of STRs from the two sources produced a profile that could have included Durham's.

CRIME RATES

Crime Category

National detection ratea 04/05 DNA detection rateb 04/05

All recorded crime 26 40Domestic burglary 16 41Non-domestic burglary 11 50Theft of vehicle 15 24Theft from vehicle 8 63Criminal damage 14 51

Table 1. Impact of DNA recovery on crime detection

aOverall % of crime detected. b% of crimes detected where DNA crime scene samples are loaded on the Database.

DISPLAY BOARD

Spread the word to friends and family.

Complete our surveys.

Visit our blog – doublehelixceasecrime.blogspot.com

You can send letters to your MP and the PM.

HOW CAN YOU HELP?

Thank you for listening toour presentation.

We hope you enjoyed it.