§ Mr. PikeTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment his Department has 123WS made of the extent to which the extension of powers for police forces to retain DNA samples of suspects could (a) help prevent miscarriages of justice and (b) increase detection rates. [134177]
§ Caroline FlintProposals in the Criminal Justice Bill to allow the police to take and retain DNA from persons arrested for a recordable offence will help contribute to the prevention of miscarriages of justice by eliminating suspects from police inquiries at an early stage of an investigation.
It is estimated that in the first year of implementation using current National DNA Database statistics and police performance rates, there will be nearly 2,000 additional detections as a result of these proposed changes.