Portuguese government wants DNA Database
The Portuguese government is talking about putting together a DNA database for anyone who commits a serious crime that incurs a sentence of 3 years of more.
Well, aside from all the ethical baggage that a DNA database brings with it, the Portuguese National Council of Ethics for the Life Sciences seems to be having problems with the definition of “serious crime” and that the 3 year sentence doesn’t necessarily translate into a “serious crime”.
To exemplify this grey area let’s look at copyright infringement while taking a photocopy of a book without permission. By Portuguese law one can get sentenced to three years for that crime. Is it serious?
Well, it is in the eyes of some. But what about when put into comparison with other crimes such as committing abortion? Although it is now not considered a crime in Portugal, it was also subject to a three year sentence or more.
The 3 year sentence aka “serious crime” rule is an obvious attempt to avoid the abusive DNA indexing of every criminal infraction. Sort of contrary to what takes place in the UK where anything except traffic infractions get you “tagged”.
This is certainly going to give Parliament something to debate for a while.
In my opinion (and that of the Ethics Board), there should be complete transparency around what decisions are made regarding the creation of this DNA Database. So, I’ll have to stay tuned and see what comes about.
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