Civil society stakeholder views on forensic DNA phenotyping: Balancing risks and benefits.
Forensic DNA phenotyping (FDP) is an umbrella term for practices seeking to infer likely phenotypic characteristics based on crime scene DNA. Specifically, it is intended to help criminal investigators find an unknown suspected perpetrator by providing information about what the suspected perpetrator may look like based on the analysis of DNA left at the crime scene. While many purport the usefulness of FDP in this regard, its probabilistic nature, as well as its ability to disclose information about an individual that may be considered private raises a range of ethical and social concerns. This paper reports findings from interviews with thirty civil society stakeholders across nine European countries. Our findings reflect the wide variation of views in Europe regarding if, when and/or how the technology should be used in the criminal justice system, and we illustrate this by presenting the different ways in which our participants strike a balance between the potential usefulness of the technology, and the various ethical and social considerations.
['Samuel|Gabrielle|G|', 'Prainsack|Barbara|B|']
D003416:Criminal Law D005060:Europe D053803:Forensic Genetics D006801:Humans D010641:Phenotype D011336:Probability D018570:Risk Assessment
Forensic DNA phenotyping Forensics DNA Ethics Interviews Ancestry testing Discrimination Molecular photofitting Privacy Public engagement Qualitative research