The Expanding Use of DNA in Law Enforcement: What Role for Privacy?

Rothstein, A J D Mark; Talbott, Kirk

doi:10.1111/j.1748-720x.2006.00024.x

Cited by 45 publications

(25 citation statements)

References 11 publications

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“…In contrast with H 2 , being more familiar with the Italian criminal justice system was related to weaker support for the DNA database, in line with the results found in Spain by Gamero and colleagues [31]. Some experts in forensic science have raised concerns on DNA profiling, regarding the protection of privacy and the risk of becoming a nation with unfettered police powers (in Italy [9,48]; in the USA [24,63],). In other words, in the case of a forensic DNA database, the balancing of public safety and privacy concerns may lean toward the protection of society, through government intrusion in the private sphere of individuals.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 49%

“…Knowledge of criminal law predicts the opinion on the Italian law concerning the forensic DNA database [24,48]. We predict that opposition to the forensic DNA database is grounded on a basic knowledge of the Italian Criminal and Criminal Procedure Code [31].…”

Section: Aims and Hypothesesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The sample included 242 participants (61 men, 177 women, 4 missing), mean age = 24.6 (SD = 2.87; range [16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34], enrolled in two public universities in central-northern Italy, divided as follows:…”

Section: Samplementioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Support for the Forensic DNA Database and Public Safety Concerns: An Exploratory Study

Pivetti¹,

Caggiano²,

Cieri³

et al. 2017

TOPSYJ

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Background:Over the past few decades, 32 European countries have introduced a national DNA database containing samples and/or profiles from suspected/convicted criminal offenders and biological materials from crime scenes. However, only a few studies have empirically investigated opinions on such a practice and the psychosocial factors possibly predicting public support or opposition. Objective:This study aims to preliminarily explore public support for a national DNA database in Italy. In particular, the role played by psychosocial factors, such as concern over individual rights vs. public safety, as well as genetic and juridical/legal literacy in the public's acceptance of a forensic DNA database, was investigated. Method:Within a correlational study, a written questionnaire was administered to a sample (N = 242) of university students. Results:Participants generally showed support for a forensic DNA database. Concerns over public safety predicted the acceptance of a DNA database, with those valuing public safety being more supportive of its implementation, whereas no role was played by familiarity with the fundamental mechanisms of genetics and with the Italian Criminal Code and Criminal Procedure Code. Conclusion:Empirical research on this issue could provide policymakers and the police force with a better picture of the psychosocial factors underlying public support for the DNA database.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 49%

Section: Aims and Hypothesesmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Support for the Forensic DNA Database and Public Safety Concerns: An Exploratory Study

Pivetti¹,

Caggiano²,

Cieri³

et al. 2017

TOPSYJ

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show abstract

“…When it comes to forensic evidence, especially DNA evidence, there is considerable concern that this imbalance leads to social inequalities being reinforced as already marginalized groups may be subject to power to a larger extent than others (Duster, 2006). There are also concerns about loss of (genetic) privacy (Dahl and Saetnan, 2009;Noble, 2006;Rothstein and Talbott, 2006), for example in the possibility of socalled familial searches, that is, searching DNA databases for profiles that, as partial matches, indicate a genetic relationship to the DNA found at a crime scene. 15 In this way, surveillance can be extended to persons outside of the database -and the stored DNA-profiles be made to stand in for an even wider bodily materiality, creating more potential criminal bodies.…”

Section: Co-materializationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Forensic evidence: Materializing bodies, materializing crimes

Kruse

2010

European Journal of Women's Studies

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Based on an ethnographic study of fingerprint and DNA evidence practices in the Swedish judicial system, this article analyzes the materialization of forensic evidence. It argues that forensic evidence, while popularly understood as firmly rooted in materiality, is inseparably technoscientific and cultural. Its roots in the material world are entangled threads of matter, technoscience, and culture that produce particular bodily constellations within and together with a particular sociocultural context. Forensic evidence, it argues further, is co-materialized with crimes as well as with particular bodily and social constellations. Consequently, the article suggests that an analysis of how forensic evidence is produced can contribute to feminist understandings of the inseparability of sex and gender: understanding bodies as ongoing technoscientific-materialcultural practices of materialization may be a fruitful approach to analysing their complexity, and the relationships in which they are placed, without surrendering to either cultural or biological determinism.

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“…The fourth category of privacy concerns proprietary privacy, encompasses issues relating to the appropriation of individuals' possessory and economic interest in their genes and other putative bodily repositories of personality. 26 The notion of genetic exceptionalism has been challenged on the grounds of the difficulty of conceiving genetic information independently from other medical information, 27 as well as with reference to the paradigmatic skip from genetic determinism to genetic probabilism, which sees genetic information not as an imminent destiny, but as a manageable risk or even chance. 28 But risk is no less frightening than destiny, as the discussion about the right not to know genetic predispositions has shown.…”

Section: Genetic Exeptionalismmentioning

confidence: 99%

Strange DNA: The rise of DNA Analysis for Family Reunification and its Ethical Implications

Weiß

2011

Life Sci Soc Policy

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DNA analysis for family reunification is a longstanding and widespread practice, but also a highly problematic one, as it is a battleground of conflicting values and interests, which have to be carefully weighed against each other: on the one hand, the right of the sovereign state to regulate immigration and prevent fraud and child trafficking; on the other hand, the right to privacy and family life. Beyond the problem of how to balance these different interests, DNA analysis for family reunification brings up the broader problem of biologisation/geneticisation of social relations, as this practice appears to reduce family to its mere biological notion. As there is no comprehensive account of the ethical implications of DNA analysis in the context of family reunification, the present paper will try to fill this gap by addressing the three most striking ethical problems posed by this issue: the privacy issues at stake; the problems concerning the conceptual, legal and social definition of family; and the question whether this practice intends to produce the immigrant as discriminated "bare life" (Agamben) or must rather be seen as a symptom of an ongoing general biologisation/geneticisation of sociality, also influencing family reunification procedures. Introduction: Tales of hope and despairAs early as 1985, when DNA fingerprinting and genetic analysis were still highly contested techniques in forensic practice, Nature carried a report entitled 'Positive identification of an immigration test-case using human DNA fingerprints'.

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The Expanding Use of DNA in Law Enforcement: What Role for Privacy?

Cited by 45 publications

References 11 publications

Support for the Forensic DNA Database and Public Safety Concerns: An Exploratory Study

Support for the Forensic DNA Database and Public Safety Concerns: An Exploratory Study

Forensic evidence: Materializing bodies, materializing crimes

Strange DNA: The rise of DNA Analysis for Family Reunification and its Ethical Implications

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