French school to test DNA of all male pupils and teachers to find rapist.

[dipsydoodle]

A private Catholic school in France is to test the DNA of all male pupils and staff in an attempt to identify the rapist of a 16-year old girl who was assaulted in the school toilets.

In the first time this mass screening has been carried out in a French school, 527 pupils and staff will be genetically tested from Monday at the Fénelon Notre-Dame school in La Rochelle.

The victim said she was unable to identify the rapist, who attacked her from behind in darkness after the light on an automatic time switch went off, according to the prosecutor Isabelle Pagenelle. But traces of DNA were found on her clothing.

Those to be tested include 475 pupils, 31 staff and 21 other employees who were in the school in western France at the time of the attack on t30 September last year.

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/apr/13/french-school-dna-testing-rapist-la-rochelle

[JJChambers]

1. Awesome!

I'm glad they're going through the expense to get this asshole arrested. Technology is awesome; no longer can rapists and other criminals hide so easily from justice.

[treestar]

2. It appears to be voluntary

But if you refuse, you will be considered suspect.

I'm torn. It seems they really care about catching someone who raped this girl. If I were one of the guys, I would like to be cleared, so I'd volunteer to take the tests.

[cabot]

3. I'm torn

One the one hand, this girl deserves justice - there's no argument and I hope they find the rapist. On the other hand, I don't like the idea that every male in the building is considered a suspect. There are civil rights issues at hand. No one should feel forced to give his or her DNA to authorities. The whole "if you don't give your DNA to us then you're considered a suspect" is coercive. I also think looking at an entire group of people as suspects is a horrible thing to do.

Does one girl's right to justice trump the privacy rights of hundreds of people? I'm not so sure.

[MineralMan]

5. France's laws are different from ours.

It's that simple.

[Inkfreak]

9. I'd refuse, I think.

I'm innocent, so I could give a shit if I was a suspect. I'm not fond of just giving the government my DNA to prove I'm innocent. But I understand it's a different country. Different laws.

I do hope they catch the human trash that raped that poor girl.

[MineralMan]

4. France has different laws than we do in the U.S.

Interesting.

[muriel_volestrangler]

6. "all results unconnected to the rape would be destroyed"

If that also means they won't, at the same time, be compared to other unsolved crimes not connected with the school, then I think this is reasonable.

[SwankyXomb]

7. You don't honestly think that would happen, do you?

There's not a police agency in the world that wouldn't run that DNA through their open cases looking for a hit, and keep it on file "just in case".

[B2G]

8. You would think they could eliminate a large number

Based on eye witness accounts of where they were when it happened.