A law on the collection of DNA information was adopted: every Russian can touch

The Federation Council nevertheless approved a law on mandatory DNA registration of all convicted, suspected and accused of committing crimes, and administrative arrests also entered this category.

It is assumed that as a result, about 4% of all Russians will get into the DNA database in the near future. And this is a huge number. Since abroad, genomic registration is considered successful if there are DNA samples of 1% of the population.

There are far more critics of this initiative than supporters. Since its use can give a wide field for manipulating citizens, establishing total control over all of us and violating our rights. Whatever the deputies say. It’s not just about catching criminals.

In fact, the State Duma pushed through the compulsory biometrics of citizens, the bill on which was rejected at the end of December last year. And even an even more in-depth version than identification only by voice and face.

The collection of DNA information will take place in a mandatory way, that is, forcibly. Like it – don’t like it. Behind bars, you won’t really shake your rights.

When it comes to convicted criminals whose guilt has already been proven, there are no questions. But in our time, anyone can fall under administrative arrest, as well as be suspected of a criminal offense without sufficient grounds. And here the law makes no difference. A man passed by, the investigator considered that he might be guilty, issued a decision – that’s all, DNA analysis was taken.

Even Senator Elena Mizulina, known for her categorical views, was outraged: “This is some kind of lawlessness, they are still innocent, why is this necessary?”

The law is of great importance for the protection of citizens from crime, said Interior Ministry spokesman Oleksandr Avdeyko. Is it worth it to believe?

When at one time almost forty years ago the method of molecular genetic examination was developed, the idea was actively introduced into the minds of society that it is the ultimate truth. Axiom. Alpha and Omega.

No other evidence of involvement in the committed crime is no longer needed.

Although the possibility of error in the method of DNA fingerprinting is not excluded. It can occur at any stage, from sample collection to final expert opinion. The technique of DNA fingerprinting is so hypersensitive that the DNA of a criminal can be lost among foreign molecules, and a person who simply coughed in the area of ​​​​the crime scene can become a suspect. In addition, criminal cases are also different. Being accused of committing a serious sexual offense is one thing, but fraud is another. But there are still crimes for which suspended sentences or fines are generally provided, for example, malicious alimony. How are they?

Especially for the detection of such errors in the West, there are programs to review old criminal cases using even newer technologies.

In 2005, in the United States, a man was accused of rape, and later it turned out that the suspect’s bone marrow donor was the real perpetrator. In 2007, the UK Home Office re-examined thousands of criminal cases from 2000-2005 where such an oversight could have occurred. In Australia, 7,000 cases were reviewed in 2008 – due to mixed samples, an innocent person was sent to jail on a murder charge, which meant that errors could be in other examinations.

In 2017, DNA tests helped release a 70-year-old man who had unfairly served 38 years.

Of course, there are benefits from DNA diagnostics. But you seem similar in our country? That someone will do all this?

Unlike the rest of the world, in Russia it is extremely difficult to achieve a review of even sentences already passed and the rehabilitation of the innocent. We have less than 1% excuses per year. For administrative offenses, especially those related to some kind of political protests, they do not happen at all.

And this is only in the case when the error in the examination was not conscious. And what are the opportunities for conscious falsification of conclusions? To adjust the result obtained during the examination to the desired one for the investigation?

How often, for successful clearance rates, will the right samples be used from an already existing database? And some objectionable administrators will leave for places not so remote for long periods? Or will someone who was already behind bars be forced to take on someone else’s guilt? And the real criminal, meanwhile, will roam free.

Are you saying this can’t happen? Yes, in simple analyzes, if desired, we can find anything, not like in DNA. Would be the right expert. Suffice it to recall the high-profile scandal with the “drunk boy” from Balashikha who died under the wheels of a car. When, instead of punishing the direct culprit of the accident, they tried to “hang” on the parents that they were drinking a six-year-old child to drink, since alcohol was allegedly found in his body.

But at least they figured it out, the expert was punished, and everything is so complicated with DNA fingerprinting, and this test is considered so flawless that no one will argue. Guilty and all.

Do the deputies understand what they are initiating? After all, this is Russia, here no one is safe from “pouch and prison”.

I think yes. Otherwise, they would not have broken through this law with persistence worthy of a better application. Everyone is well aware that we are talking about creating another control tool. Which can be used in the future even against law-abiding citizens. They will test it on convicts and suspects, as often happens, and then simply expand the list of people who need this analysis. And without it, nothing.

They promise, however, that the justification of a person will make it possible to remove his DNA from the database. Does anyone believe in it? It will be elementary to get genomic information, but to destroy it, you will have to strain very hard.

You must have a separate court order, which must be attached to the application. Come with this statement to the Ministry of Internal Affairs at the place of residence, wait for the result.

In addition, the lawyers add, practice shows that even a formal justification does not guarantee the deletion of data. Well, they will tell you that they are destroyed, but how to check? On word?