DNA Database for Habitual Offenders

Genetic samples of 12,000 habitual offenders repeatedly convicted for crimes, have been collected so far and stored in a database at the Iranian Genetic Bank, said Seyed Ahmad Shojaei, head of Iran’s Legal Medicine Organization (ILMO).

Genetic information database helps check criminals from committing repeated offenses. Statistics show that 12% of criminals resort to committing crimes within a year of the previous offense and 48% repeat their crimes after a gap of five years.

“This year, the plan to collect samples from prison inmates will continue,” IRNA quoted him as saying.

The first phase of the plan to collect DNA samples of prisoners started in March 2016, and a total of 2,000 samples were collected and profiles created in the previous year. The number of genetic samples is expected to increase to 38,000 by the end of the current year in March 2018.

ILMO also has plans to collect DNA samples of people working in hazardous and risky jobs such as firefighters “to help identify quickly a person after death in such an accident,” he said.

Earlier, in response to a query about the costs of maintaining DNA databases, Shojaei said the time and money saved through identifying suspects speedily through DNA evidence “greatly outweighs the costs.”

Currently there are only 10 genetic laboratories in the provinces of Tehran, Alborz, Khorasan Razavi, Isfahan, Fars, and Khuzestan, which conduct genetic profiling.

First developed globally and used in 1984, DNA profiling is used in criminal investigation and to identify a person after death. DNA profiling is a forensic technique used to identify individuals by characteristics of their DNA.