Base assumptions? Racial aspects of US DNA forensics

Abstract

INTRODUCTION After two decades of acceptance in US courtrooms, forensic DNA analysis remains plagued with flaws even as its use burgeons. Instead of fomenting a dialogue with the public, US lawmakers have invoked the spectre of violent crime to promulgate the passage of legislation that permits the coercion of DNA samples from ever-expanding segments of society. This leaves US citizens, who prize both privacy and security, to confront momentous policy decisions without the benefit of comprehensive public education or debate. This chapter largely focuses on events that encapsulate many of these issues, albeit in microcosm: the US conduct of DNA sweeps. Also called DNA dragnets or DNA mass screenings, this method is a species of ‘cold hit’ in which law enforcement essays to match DNA left by an unknown miscreant with the person who left it by obtaining samples from members of the community thought to contain the criminal. The discussion will explore how, via the use of DNA sweeps, local police exploit laws in order to expand the scope of DNA profiling, collection and storage to allow the apprehension of unknown miscreants on the strength of non-specific physical descriptors. However, the ethnically heterogeneous nature of US society and the overwhelming racial disparities in arrest and incarceration present challenges that have been largely ignored.

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