S and Marper v. United Kingdom

The United Kingdom (defendant) separately arrested two British nationals, a juvenile male referred to as S and Michael Marper (plaintiffs), on suspicion of crimes. Following the arrests, the United Kingdom collected fingerprints and cellular material from S and Marper, creating a DNA profile from each of their cellular material. Neither S nor Marper was ever convicted of their suspected crimes, and they both asked the United Kingdom to destroy their fingerprints, cellular samples, and DNA profiles. The police in the United Kingdom had a policy of keeping this personal data regardless of whether a suspect was convicted. Further, the applicable rules allowed the data to be used for detecting, preventing, or investigating any crime. When the police refused to destroy the materials collected from S and Marper, S and Marper appealed to the courts in the United Kingdom, but the courts would not force the police to destroy the materials. S and Marper then each filed complaints against the United Kingdom in the European Court of Human Rights. S and Marper alleged that the United Kingdom had unlawfully interfered with their right to a private life in violation of Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights (the convention), an international treaty that was binding on the United Kingdom. S and Marper pointed out that their fingerprints and DNA contained significant amounts of personal data. The United Kingdom responded that it needed to keep this personal data to detect and prevent crimes.