It is not currently possible to determine how many of the 124,347 “CJ arrestees” (persons with a DNA profile on the National DNA Database who have been arrested and subsequently not charged or cautioned with an offence) have never been convicted of an offence. However, some partial, new information is available on the number of these persons who have previously been charged, reported for summons or sanctioned1 for another offence. This information was obtained by the ACPO Criminal Records Office Team who have been monitoring the DNA sampling of persons arrested for a recordable offence. The information available is shown in the following table.
The figures show that 23,519 of the “124,347 persons with a DNA profile on the National DNA Database (NDNAD) who had been arrested but not charged or cautioned with an offence" had a PNC record created prior to the arrest event when their DNA sample was taken. This indicates that these persons had previously been charged, reported for summons or sanctioned for at least one other offence.
The figures might suggest that the remaining 100,828 persons have never been charged, reported for summons or sanctioned for any offence. However, information is not currently available on the proportion of the 124,347 persons who may have been charged, reported for summons or sanctioned for an offence after the arrest event when their DNA sample was taken.
The Home Office, ACPO and PITO are working towards being able to provide such information from the NDNAD and PNC.
1Sanctions include convictions and cautions (including reprimands and final warnings.
Total number of records broken down by ethnicity Number of records where a PNC record had been created prior to the arrest and NFA event2 Number of records where a PNC record had not been created prior to the arrest and NFA event3 6+1 ethnic appearance rating White European 79,349 18,717 60,632 Dark European 2,183 272 1,911 Afro-Caribbean 9,208 1,742 7,466 Asian 7,889 1,135 6,754 Oriental 1,067 60 1,007 Arab 1,370 120 1,250 Non-ethnic visual appearance code White 10,522 1,058 9,464 Non-white 7,155 227 6,928 Unknown including N/T, not recorded, raw data not available 5,604 188 5,416 Total 124,347 23,519 100,828 1NFA—no further action was taken, ie the person was arrested and subsequently not charged or cautioned with an offence. 2 Data indicate that the PNC record had been created up to 31 December 2003. Records where the individual was arrested after the “arrest and NFA event” are not included. 3 Data indicate that the record was created after 31 December 2003. In these cases, the arrest and NFA event is likely to be the first time an individual has come to police notice. Note: Of the 124,347 total records, it has not been possible to obtain the ethnic appearance information of 5,604.