DNA Fingerprinting and Civil Liberties

描述（由申请人提供）：使用DNA法医所产生的伦理、法律和社会问题尚未得到充分探讨。该项目旨在调查围绕DNA分析的新问题和有争议问题的各种立场，并教育政策制定者，以便他们更好地理解将DNA技术应用于刑事司法系统所涉及的隐私和公民自由问题。为此目的，由伦理学家、律师、政治和社会科学家、法医专家、辩护律师和检察官以及囚犯和假释犯的代表，包括在法医DNA库中有代表的主要族裔群体成员参加的一系列小型讲习班将审查这些问题。项目小组将收集数据，更新有关国际法律、条例和程序的资料，以便为讲习班讨论奠定基础。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The ethical, legal, and social issues arising from the use of DNA forensics have not been fully explored. This project aims to investigate the various positions on new and controversial issues surrounding DNA profiling and to educate policymakers so that they better understand privacy and civil liberty issues involved in the application of DNA technology to the criminal justice system. To these ends, a series of small workshops involving ethicists, lawyers, political and social scientists, forensic experts, defense lawyers and prosecutors, and representatives of prisoners and parolees, including members of the major ethnic groups represented in forensic DNA banks, will examine the issues. The project team will collect data, updating information on international laws and regulations and procedures in order to ground workshop discussions. Issues to be addressed include: (1) who should be included in forensic databases; (2) tissue collections as potential databases; (3) sample retention; (4) length of retention; (5) access to forensic DNA databanks; (6) "partial matches," and effects on relatives; (7) racial identification using DNA haplotype analysis; (8) resource allocation; (9) federal versus state roles; (10) role of medical personnel; (11) the "autonomy of science;" (12) uses of samples in medical research; (13) behavioral genetic research; (14) informed consent for research; (15) commercialization; (16) use for epidemiological purposes; (17) fiduciary issues versus the common good; (18) use of DNA collected for identification in mass disasters; (19) national DNA identification cards. Workshop participants will produce position papers for publication in a special issue of the American Society of Law, Medicine & Ethics (ASLME) Journal of Law, Medicine & Ethics, which, in addition to its regular subscribership, will be distributed to policymakers throughout the United States. Presentations will be placed on a website. In order to educate policymakers (especially state legislators), judges, and district attorneys, a national education symposium, in Williamsburg, VA, based on the workshop discussions, will conclude the project, with two scholarships offered to two policymakers from each state.