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, the development of society and increase poverty. However, the lack of accurate data prevents a proper assessment of the problem. The security situation in Peru may 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 for the Peruvian case have had an impact in one way or another on violent or criminal manifestations and demonstrate the levels of insecurity prevailing in Peru. The problem is currently focused on the metropolitan area of Lima. The decrease in political violence to levels that were harmless to national security 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 upturn in crime during 2023, and this increase in crime persists from previous years. In an interview with media and press General Eduardo Perez Rocha, former director of the National Police (PNP), responds that “the problem is due to the fact that the citizen security 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 in 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 of filiation. This reality raises the need to create a BD-DNA-F in Peru, with which neighboring countries already have, and with the conviction that this is the only way to provide their criminal processes with the endorsement and computer support that is necessary to give strength and fluidity to the genetic homologation, which would solve many cases, as it happens in countries that have such a genetic fingerprint 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.