The Police DNA Database is "Racist"

From The Guardian:

Almost one in four black children over 10 have had their profiles placed on the police DNA database. The disclosure has sparked claims from the chair of an influential parliamentary committee that the disparity with white children is undermining social integration.

About a million children have been added since the national DNA database started in 1995. However, there has been a dramatic rise from 2004, when police were given the power to add the profiles of people routinely arrested, even if not convicted of a crime. According to new figures obtained by the campaign group Genewatch, almost 45,000 black children aged 10 to 17 in England and Wales – about 23% of all black children in the age group – have been added to the database in the past five years. By contrast, the DNA profiles of just under 10% of white youths aged 10 to 17 – about 440,000 children – have been added. "The racial bias in the database is shocking and black children have been disproportionately affected," said Helen Wallace, director of Genewatch. In the vast majority of cases, the children's profiles have been retained once they turned 18 and became adults.

Keith Vaz MP, chair of the home affairs select committee, said: "Such disparity in the treatment of different ethnic groups is bound to lead to a disintegration of community relations and a lack of trust in the police force."

The figures have raised questions about the government's desire to retain the DNA profiles of children – arrested but never convicted of crimes – for up to six years and of adults for up to 12 years. The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) has warned the government risks breaking European law because ministers have failed to provide "clear, justifiable reasons for holding on to DNA data from people who had not been convicted of a crime." In a lengthy submission to the government, the commission said the government's proposals for the retention of DNA profiles failed to recognise there were a disproportionate number of young black men, vulnerable people and children on the database.

John Wadham, the EHRC's group legal director, said: "It would be sensible for the government to get this right now or it could face many expensive legal challenges."

Truly a headscratcher, this one.

It could either be racist bias, as Keith Vaz claims, or maybe - just maybe - it could be the fact that young black males are involved in crime at a frankly astonishing rate compared to their presence in the wider population.

You'll note that despite the disgusting bias of the police, it is only young black males who seem to be over represented, not Hindu girls or Chinese pensioners.

In all seriousness though, what is society to do?

Do the police just stop arresting black criminals to correct the "bias"? How serious does their crime have to be before protecting the public is more important that meeting the targets?

Black men are imprisoned at a rate which far exceeds their numbers as a percentage of the population; should we just let some out and give another group a turn, regardless of who statistically commits the most crime?

Then we have this nonsense from Keith Vaz:

"Such disparity in the treatment of different ethnic groups is bound to lead to a disintegration of community relations and a lack of trust in the police force."

Ah - but not the higher propensity some ethnic groups seem to have for criminal behaviour?

No, what leads to lack of trust in the police force is favouritism and treating certain groups leniently.

I'm sure most black people want black criminals off the streets; justice must be colour blind, or it is not justice.

But of course, in the world of The Guardian, the only way to resolve this situation is to pretend that all cultures and lifestyles are equal, and society is responsible for any disparity in the numbers.

I truly fear for the future if such thinking becomes more mainstream, and all the authorities care about is making the figures look acceptable to Big Brother rather than punishing the guilty and protecting the innocent - regardless of their colour.