Important Advances in Bill for the Use of a Forensic DNA Database in Peru

The high levels of insecurity in Peru, as in all of Latin America, generated by violence and crime, hinder economic growth and social development and increase poverty. However, the lack of precise data prevents us from properly gauging the problem. The security situation in Peru could be particularly serious. Although there are no conclusive studies on the subject, it is estimated that only 25% of criminal acts are reported.

The studies carried out so far on the Peruvian case have, in one way or another, had an impact on violent or criminal demonstrations and have demonstrated the levels of insecurity that prevail in Peru. The problem is currently focused on the metropolitan area of Lima. The reduction of political violence to levels that are harmless to national security has made it possible to see more clearly a phenomenon that had been developing for years: criminal violence. This reality poses new challenges to national security policy.

Peru faces an alarming rise in crime during 2023, and this increase in crimes has persisted since previous years. In an interview with the media and the press, General Eduardo Pérez Rocha, former director of the National Police (PNP), responded that: “the problem is due to the fact that the public safety system does not work. He explained that Peru has experienced a failure in the fight against crime due to a change in the organizational structure that occurred during the government of Pedro Pablo Kuczynski.”

For almost 23 years now, DNA samples have been used in Peru as a method of identification in the forensic field of state institutions. This test has become an essential tool both in the criminal field and in matters related to filiation. This reality raises the need to create a DNA-F database in Peru, which neighboring countries already have, and with the conviction that only in this way will it be able to provide its criminal proceedings with the necessary computer support and backing to give strength and fluidity to genetic homologation, which would resolve many cases, as occurs in countries that have this genetic fingerprinting database.

Justicia Forense – DNA Latin America, has been working since October 2023 to create these mechanisms, which provide institutions with tools to fight crime in Peru.