DNA everybody, reduce/solve crimes (War on Crime)

[George at Orwellian.Org]

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.