DNA everybody, reduce/solve crimes (War on Crime)
George at Orwellian.Org
George at Orwellian.Org
Mon Mar 19 01:37:42 PST 2001
http://foxnews.com/world/031701/germany_palkot.sml
#
# Child's Murder in Germany Prompts Debate Over Mandatory DNA Testing
#
# Saturday, March 17, 2001 By Greg Palkot
#
# The brutal murder of 12-year-old Ulrike Brandt, who went missing
# from her hometown north of Berlin last month, sparked outrage
# across Germany when her strangled and sexually abused body was
# found by authorities.
#
# Those who knew here mourned. "It was terrible that this could
# happen," one neighbor said. "She was such a nice girl." Funeral
# services were held Friday.
#
# The emotional case sparked a wider debate when some politicians
# called for all German men to submit to DNA testing to help find
# the girl's killer, and prevent similar crimes in the future.
# That call has been rejected by other leading officials, and
# brought back for the some the terrible memories of Germany's
# Nazi and Communist past, when individual rights were systemat
# ically disregarded.
#
# There is a precedent in post-Cold War Germany for such DNA
# testing, in which a saliva samples from those tested are matched
# with genetic material found on the victim. In 1998, the killer
# of another young German girl was found after more than 16,000
# men underwent DNA testing.
#
# This new proposal has a much wider potential impact, however,
# and could theoretically involve 41 million people.
#
# Supporters have promised to push their case. "I am ready to go
# very far with legislation," Norbert Geis, legal spokesman for
# Germany's CDU/CSU opposition coalition told Fox News, "in order
# to catch sexual offenders against children."
#
# Opponents of the plan argue that current German law guards against
# perceived invasions of privacy. "It's unconstitutional to take
# a fingerprint of someone not proven guilty," remarked Volcker
# Beck, Alliance 90/Green party parliament member, "so it is clear
# you can't take a genetic fingerprint, either."
#
# Similar privacy concerns have been raised in the U.S and
# elsewhere. Still, DNA testing has had success in America,
# particularly at the state level. And Britain is moving to create
# a broader national genetic data bank.
#
# Geis and other supporters of the DNA testing plan for Germany
# have since backed off their earlier hardline positions. But more
# extensive testing does have popular support.
#
# "It's no problem for me," one Berlin man noted. And a young German
# woman remarked, "It's good, so long as they can find the killer."
#
# Voluntary DNA testing in Eberswalde, where Ulrike lived, is
# already under way.
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