Ethics as Lived Practice. Anticipatory Capacity and Ethical Decision-Making in Forensic Genetics

Abstract

Greater scrutiny and demands for innovation and increased productivity place pressures on scientists. Forensic genetics is advancing at a rapid pace but can only do so responsibly, usefully, and acceptably within ethical and legal boundaries. We argue that such boundaries require that forensic scientists embrace ‘ethics as lived practice’. As a starting point, we critically discuss ‘thin’ ethics in forensic genetics, which lead to a myopic focus on procedures, and to seeing ‘privacy’ as the sole ethical concern and technology as a mere tool. To overcome ‘thin’ ethics in forensic genetics, we instead propose understanding ethics as an intrinsic part of the lived practice of a scientist. Therefore, we explore, within the context of three case studies of emerging forensic genetics technologies, ethical aspects of decision-making in forensic genetics research and in technology use. We discuss the creation, curation, and use of databases, and the need to engage with societal and policing contexts of forensic practice. We argue that open communication is a vital ethical aspect. Adoption of ‘ethics as lived practice’ supports the development of anticipatory capacity—empowering scientists to understand, and act within ethical and legal boundaries, incorporating the operational and societal impacts of their daily decisions, and making visible ethical decision making in scientific practice.

Socially enacted ethics: The inner life of an ethical advisory board

“…The board members, irrespective of their backgrounds, experience their work as ethical, and this empowers them to contribute to the discussion. ETENE's ethics thus emerges as what Wienroth et al (2021) call 'ethics as lived practice'; the board members act and live ethics in their advisory work and also understand the significance of that work (cf. Guillemin & Gillam, 2004;Shove et al, 2012).…”

“…ETENE's ethics thus emerges as what Wienroth et al. (2021) call ‘ethics as lived practice’; the board members act and live ethics in their advisory work and also understand the significance of that work (cf. Guillemin & Gillam, 2004; Shove et al., 2012).…”

Recent advances in forensic biology and forensic DNA typing: INTERPOL review 2019–2022

“…A framework for ethical conduct of forensic scientists as “lived practice” has been proposed, and three case studies were discussed in terms of decision-making processes involving forensic DNA phenotyping and biographical ancestry testing, investigative genetic genealogy, and forensic epigenetics [ 126 ]. An ethos for forensic genetics involving the values of integrity, trustworthiness, and effectiveness has likewise been described [ 127 ].…”

Integrity, Trustworthiness, and Effectiveness: Towards an Ethos for Forensic Genetics

“…Forensic geneticists span a complex web of organisations, ranging across a variety of social relationships that, like all human practices, are subject to an ‘order’ that will include explicit and implicit views on good conduct [ 3 ]. Sites of ethical decision-making may not always be apparent and ethical boundaries largely remain opaque, unregulated, and regarded as justifiably flexible under specific circumstances.…”

“…This follows closely on the heels of ethical debates surrounding new(er) applications around phenotyping, ancestry testing, epigenetics, and genetic genealogy. While not focussing here on these ethical issues (see instead [ 3 ]), we take such vital ethical considerations further and propose the foundations of an ethos that could underpin forensic genetics, ensuring its future as it advances and matures.…”