Home Department written question – answered at on 23 June 2010.
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many convictions for serious offences attributable to evidence held on the National DNA database there have been since the database's inception.
Data on the number of convictions obtained in which DNA match evidence from the National DNA Database (NDNAD) was a contributory factor are not collected centrally.
However, data are available on the number of detections in which a DNA match was available. Table 1 shows the number of serious crimes detected in which a DNA match was available for each year from 2005-06 to 2008-09. Data are not available for earlier years.
The figures do not include: additional detections where an offender admits further offences following a detection for which a DNA match was available; or crimes detected as a result of one-off speculative searches of the NDNAD or from comparing DNA profiles in a forensic laboratory, procedures which are used mainly in the investigation of serious crimes such as murder and rape. Consequently, the figures provided in Table 1 under-represent the overall contribution of DNA matches to the detection of serious crimes such as murder and rape. It is also important to note that convictions are obtained through integrated criminal investigation, not through DNA evidence alone.
The source of the figures provided is the forensic performance data, which are collected by the Home Office from police forces. The figures for 2009-10 are not yet available.
The data provided are management information and have not been formally assessed for compliance with the Code of Practice for Official Statistics.
Detections of crimes in which a DNA match was available | ||||
Serious crime categories | 2005-06 | 2006-07 | 2007-08 | 2008-09 |
Homicide | 77 | 88 | 83 | 70 |
Rape | 223 | 195 | 184 | 168 |
Other sex offences | 115 | 84 | 64 | 106 |
Other violent offences | 754 | 790 | 849 | 861 |
Robbery | 584 | 547 | 617 | 603 |
Notes: 1. A 'detection' means that the crime was cleared up and a DNA match was available. 2. The police data on forensic activity uses 12 broad crime categories. 3. The five crime categories listed above broadly equate to 'serious crime'. 4. The other seven categories of the forensic activity data (not shown) broadly equate to less serious crime e.g. burglary, vehicle offences, criminal damage, drugs offences etc. 5. The table gives data only for 'Detections in which a DNA match is available'. It does not include 'Additional detections where an offender admits further offences following a detection for which a DNA match was available'. 6 The 'Other violent offences' category of the forensic activity data include violence offences both with injury and with no injury. In the Recorded Crime Statistics, approx half of the crimes in the category 'Violence against the Person' (excluding homicide) are violence offences with no injury. It is likely that a similar proportion of the 'Other violent offences' category of the forensic activity data shown above are also offences with no injury. Source: Police data on forensic activity and detections |
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