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11 - Portuguese forensic DNA database: political enthusiasm, public trust and probable issues in future practice

from Section 2 - National contexts of forensic DNA technologies and key issues

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 October 2012

By
Helena Machado  and
Susana Silva
Edited by
Richard Hindmarsh  and
Barbara Prainsack
Richard Hindmarsh
Affiliation:
Griffith University, Queensland
Barbara Prainsack
Affiliation:
King's College London
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Summary

INTRODUCTION: ESTABLISHMENT OF THE FORENSIC DNA DATABASE

The Portuguese law on the forensic DNA database was established in February 2008 (Law 5/2008) (Government of Portugal 2008). The database is expected to be operational during 2010. The discussion in this chapter is informed by insights obtained from interviews carried out by Machado between March and May 2008 with law and forensic science experts who were part of the committee appointed by the Minister of Justice in January 2006 (Ministry of Justice 2006). The committee had the task of drafting a law regarding a DNA database for civil identification and criminal investigation. The draft law that resulted from the work of this committee was considered by the Portuguese Parliament in September 2007. All translations are by the authors if not indicated otherwise.

The Portuguese Government had already in 2005 announced its intention to create a DNA database for civil and forensic identification purposes. Initially, the intention had been to collect data from the entire Portuguese population. This idea was eventually abandoned in favour of a database restricted to the ‘criminal’ population, as in many other countries in Europe and elsewhere. According to the forensic experts who participated in the preparation of Portuguese law on the forensic DNA database, there were two main reasons why the initial plan to establish a universal database was ultimately abandoned. First, no other country had such a population-wide database.

Information

Type
Chapter
Information
Genetic Suspects
Global Governance of Forensic DNA Profiling and Databasing
 , pp. 218 - 239
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2010

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