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Law & Forensics · Recorded milestone

National DNA database

Recorded year1995

Britain opens the world's first national DNA database, matching profiles from crime scenes against those of people arrested.

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Built on

Forensic crime laboratoryRecorded · 1932enables
PCRRecorded · 1983enables
DNA fingerprintingRecorded · 1984enables

Led to

Rapid DNA at crime scenesRecorded · 2025enables

Sources & evidence

Additional source

Dataset updated 2026-10-18. This individual record has not been separately re-reviewed.