The Mad Hatter has been imprisoned by the White Queen because of an anticipated future crime:
Blogged because of allegations reported in the Telegraph that police in Britain are arresting children in order to collect their DNA for a database.“It’s a poor sort of memory that only works backwards,” the Queen remarked.
“What sort of things do you remember best?” Alice ventured to ask.
“Oh, things that happened the week after next,” the Queen replied in a careless tone. “For instance, now,” she went on, sticking a large piece of plaster on her finger as she spoke, “there’s the King’s messenger. He’s in prison now, being punished, and the trial doesn’t even begin till next Wednesday: and of course the crime comes last of all.”
“Suppose he never commits the crime?” said Alice.
“That would be all the better, wouldn’t it?” the Queen said, as she bound the plaster round her finger with a bit of ribbon.
A Metropolitan Police officer made the claims after figures were released showing that 386 under-18s had their DNA taken and stored by police last year in Camden, north London.
The officer said: "Have we got targets for young people who have not been arrested yet? The answer is yes. But we are not just waiting outside schools to pick them up, we are acting on intelligence.
"It is part of a long-term crime prevention strategy. If you know you have had your DNA taken and it is on a database then you will think twice about committing burglary for a living.
More at the link. Extensive discussion of future crime databases here. Credit for Lewis Carroll text and print here.
As a former law enforcement officer I think it would benefit our country greatly if we required a DNA sample upon every arrest for a national DNA database. We already collect fingerprints, why not step it up one notch? Is this really an "unreasonable search and seizure by the government?" Recently, convicted felons who plead guilty are being given access to DNA evidence in order to voluntarily submit to testing in order to prove their innocence. Do we not owe it to our legal and moral code to do everything possible to catch criminals and protect the innocent?
ReplyDeleteI don't advocate making spurious or false arrests for the database, but would like to see actual legal change.
A DNA database fueled by arrests would be too wildly unpopular to ever get established. I think a more viable option would be to only take samples of convicted felons.
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