As the wealth of technological advances expands, so does the awareness of ethical issues that arise from said technological advances. One such advancement was the establishment of DNA databases which are used throughout the world by both medical and government officials. These databases aid police forces in apprehending criminals and enabling innocent men to be set free. The databases are also extremely beneficial to scientists focused on studying certain diseases to better understand them and hopefully obtain a cure for. On the opposing side, however, is the growing concern about potential violations of individual privacy and rights. Such concerns include exactly who should have access to these databases, unjust targeting of criminal relatives to obtain information, and innocent names on the same list as convicted criminals.
In the United Kingdom the police would take DNA samples of all individuals no matter the offense above the age of 10 and store it indefinitely until the European Court of Human Rights ruled against this practice in the S and Marper vs UK case1. The United Kingdom has deleted over a million DNA profiles and destroyed 6 million DNA samples because of this ruling. This would seem like a victory for advocates against keeping DNA databases, however, samples that could potentially enable police to catch a criminal can only be kept for 6 months before being destroyed. This is a prime example of how the ethics of DNA databases can both hinder and help society. Currently there is no similar federal law on DNA databases regarding time limits in the United States. Once an individual is in the system they stay in the system even if they are proven innocent of a crime after already spending time in jail. Such as in the case of Donald Reynolds and Billy Wardell, who were convicted of rape in the state of Illinois but were proven innocent after 11 years in jail.
