Does anyone need more evidence of the need for England to devolve from the socialist Gaelic republic than the episode of Question Time from Dunfermline just now? I have nothing in common with most of the audience and the panel, and would rather they tried to run their affairs the way they seem to think fit, and leave us to take a little more concern over our freedoms. That they could debate, not whether we should keep the DNA of innocent people, but how many years it is reasonable to keep it (a point even the Conservative seemed happy to concede), chills me to the bone. The whole panel and most of the room seemed to think that anyone charged but found innocent is somehow semi-guilty, fit to be treated in a different way to those who have never been charged. It goes to the heart of our concepts of justice and freedom, and clearly the Scots (the soft, southern ones, at least) have a very different concept to what I hope remains the English view.
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I didn't see the program, so
I didn't see the program, so this may have been covered, but it's interesting to note that in Scotland, the DNA sample taken at arrest is NOT retained if the person is either acquitted, or never charged.
So whatever the views of the people on the show, (and DO remember this is the bbc, so they'll be carefully selected for correct thinking), the Scottish legal situation is actually better than the English one.
As for why, you'd need to ask a Scottish lawyer - meaning a lawyer who knows about Scots law, rather than a lawyer who happens to be of Scottish descent.