More than one million children have been added to the DNA database!

LONDON, England - November 17, 2008 - The details of more than one million people on the national DNA database were added when they were children, The Daily Telegraph can now disclose. Campaigners said the revelations showed how children are being criminalized and treated as "suspects for life".

Official figures show that, since the DNA database was created, 1.07 million profiles of children have been added.

This is nearly a quarter of the 4.4 million profiles on the database.

Anyone who comes in contact with the police, as an offender or a witness, can have a DNA sample taken for the database.

Ministers and the police say the database is a vital tool in solving crimes, and has helped detectives crack major cases, including murder and rape.

A breakdown of the figures shows that the profiles of more than 100,000 children had their DNA taken when they were under 13, and the profiles of more than half a million children were added to the database when they were between 13 and 15 years of age.

In the past three years, 48,500 children under 13 and 204,666 children between 13 and 15 years of age were added to the database.

The figures are far higher than previously thought, as government figures only estimate the number of children currently in the database. Official figures show that the profiles of 344,339 children have been included.

Liberal Democrat Shadow Home Secretary Chris Huhne said, "These shocking figures clearly show that the government has preyed upon children in making the world's biggest DNA database through stealth.

"We already know that guilt and innocence are of no concern to ministers, but clearly neither is the negative effect the database has on children.

"It is difficult to justify targeting a million (children) when large numbers of adults convicted of serious crimes before DNA began to be collected are not in the database.

"It is unacceptable to keep the DNA of children on record in perpetuity for the most minor of offenses. Unless convicted of a sexual or violent offense, children under the age of 16 should not have their DNA stored on the database."

Earlier this month, a senior scientist at the Forensic Science Services said the database was likely to double in size and contain the DNA of one in six of the adult population by the year 2012.