 | Genetic Justice: DNA Data Banks, Criminal Investigations, and Civil Liberties Subjects: Criminal investigation -- Cross-cultural studies; DNA data banks -- Cross-cultural studies; Evidence Criminal -- Cross-cultural studies; Two leading authors on medical ethics, science policy, and civil liberties take a hard look at how the United States has balanced the use of DNA technology, particularly the use of DNA databanks in criminal justice, with the privacy rights of its citizenry. The authors explore many controversial topics, including the legal precedent for taking DNA from juveniles, the search for possible family members of suspects in DNA databases, the launch of "DNA dragnets" among local populations, and the warrantless acquisition by police of so-called abandoned DNA in the search for suspects. Most intriguing, they explode the myth that DNA profiling is infallible, which has profound implications for criminal justice. Sheldon Krimsky is professor of urban and environmental policy and planning and adjunct professor of public health and community medicine at Tufts University. He is author or coeditor of eleven books, most recently Race and the Genetic Revolution: Science, Myth, and Culture . Tania Simoncelli worked for more than six years as the science advisor to the American Civil Liberties Union, where she guided the organization's responses to cutting-edge developments in science and technology that pose challenges for civil liberties. She currently works for the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. |
