European Court of Human Rights · 4 December 2008
S. and Marper v United Kingdom
In plain English
The police kept the fingerprints, DNA samples and DNA profiles of two people who were never convicted, with no time limit. The Grand Chamber held that keeping such data from everyone suspected but not convicted, without distinction, breached the right to private life.
What the court ruled
the blanket and indiscriminate nature of the powers of retention of the fingerprints, cellular samples and DNA profiles of persons suspected but not convicted of offences, as applied in the case of the present applicants, fails to strike a fair balance between the competing public and private interests …
Related
The official text is quoted word for word from the English version of the source named under it; only the version published in the court’s own records is authoritative. The plain-English line is Fino’s own summary, not legal advice.