Forensic Sci Rev.
Social and ethical aspects of forensic genetics: A critical review.
Williams R1, Wienroth M2.
Author information
1
Faculty of Health and Life Sciences, Northumbria University, Ellison Place, Newcastle upon Tyne, Tyne and Wear, England, United Kingdom.
2
Policy, Ethics, and Life Sciences Research Centre, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne, Tyne and Wear, England, United Kingdom.
Abstract
This review describes the social and ethical responses to the history of innovations in forensic genetics and their application to criminal investigations. Following an outline of the three recurrent social perspectives that have informed these responses (crime management, due process, and genetic surveillance), it goes on to introduce the repertoire of ethical considerations by describing a series of key reports that have shaped subsequent commentaries on forensic DNA profiling and databasing. Four major ethical concerns form the focus of the remainder of the paper (dignity, privacy, justice, and social solidarity), and key features of forensic genetic practice are examined in the light of these concerns. The paper concludes with a discussion of the concept of "proportionality" as a resource for balancing the social and ethical risks and benefits of the use of forensic genetics in support of criminal justice.
Copyright © 2017 Central Police University.
KEYWORDS:
Ancestry informative markers; DNA databasing; DNA profiling; SNPs; STRs; dignity; ethics; externally visible characteristics; forensic DNA phenotyping; justice; privacy; proportionality
Social and ethical aspects of forensic genetics: A critical review.
Williams R1, Wienroth M2.
Author information
1
Faculty of Health and Life Sciences, Northumbria University, Ellison Place, Newcastle upon Tyne, Tyne and Wear, England, United Kingdom.
2
Policy, Ethics, and Life Sciences Research Centre, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne, Tyne and Wear, England, United Kingdom.
Abstract
This review describes the social and ethical responses to the history of innovations in forensic genetics and their application to criminal investigations. Following an outline of the three recurrent social perspectives that have informed these responses (crime management, due process, and genetic surveillance), it goes on to introduce the repertoire of ethical considerations by describing a series of key reports that have shaped subsequent commentaries on forensic DNA profiling and databasing. Four major ethical concerns form the focus of the remainder of the paper (dignity, privacy, justice, and social solidarity), and key features of forensic genetic practice are examined in the light of these concerns. The paper concludes with a discussion of the concept of "proportionality" as a resource for balancing the social and ethical risks and benefits of the use of forensic genetics in support of criminal justice.
Copyright © 2017 Central Police University.
KEYWORDS:
Ancestry informative markers; DNA databasing; DNA profiling; SNPs; STRs; dignity; ethics; externally visible characteristics; forensic DNA phenotyping; justice; privacy; proportionality
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