The Impact of Gene Typing on the Criminal Justice System: A Professional Development Award in Studies in Science, Technology and Society

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This two year, half-time award enables a legal scholar and ethicist at the Institute for Philosophy and Public Policy at the University of Maryland College Park to develop his understanding of theory and research underlying the forensic applications of DNA typing. He will undertake a two-year course of study with the Division of Human Genetics at the University of Maryland at Baltimore, sponsored by Dr. Maimon Cohen, Director of the Division, and Dr. Joann Boughman, Director of Graduate Studies. Under their supervision, he will receive intensive training in molecular and population genetics and DNA typing through classroom instruction and laboratory rotations. He will use this training in a program of collaborative research with colleagues at the Institute for Philosophy and Public Policy and specialists in the forensic applications of genetic typing. He expects to complete several articles during the grant period, to be submitted to journals in law, public policy and criminology, and to begin work on a book. This project addresses a central issue in ethics and values studies: the social values and mutual obligations and responsibilities that arise in the interactions between new developments in science and technology, and society. The investigator and his host specialists and host institution are uniquely well-qualified to undertake and support this project; research and related activities are likely to continue after the period of the award. Results are likely to be appropriately disseminated and useful. An award in the amount of $40,000 is therefore recommended.