Forensic genealogy, bioethics and the Golden State Killer case

Wickenheiser, Ray

doi:10.1016/j.fsisyn.2019.07.003

Cited by 54 publications

(53 citation statements)

References 20 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…Profiles and other data in forensic STR databases are managed and maintained by government agencies under strict privacy protections [89] and policies regarding the sharing of that data with authorized agencies. Some propose that these searching approaches each bring varying degrees of additional privacy and intrusion concerns [29,75,77,90]. It has been suggested that government databases were not intended for these kinship type familial and Y‐STR database searches [91] as is done with familial searching and the Y‐STR database search concepts.…”

Section: Privacy Concernsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…IGG exploits high-density SNP profiles, generated either by microarray (e.g., ~850 000 or more SNPs) or whole-genome sequencing (WGS) (e.g., millions of SNPs) technologies. A SNP profile is searched against a privately or publicly available high-density SNP profile database(s) for potential relatives in the database using measures such as the total length of the shared DNA segments between a pair of profiles [2,6,[29][30][31][32]. IGG methods are able to determine 3 rd degree or greater relationships with reasonable accuracies well beyond current A-STR based methods.…”

Section: Inve S Ti G Ative G Ene Tic G Ene Alogy (I G G)mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Instead, it seeks to merely raise some of the potential issues so that scientists, stakeholders, and the public can consider them in evaluating the use of the above-described approaches. All three [29,75,77,90]. It has been suggested that government databases were not intended for these kinship type familial and Y-STR database searches [91] as is done with familial searching and the Y-STR database search concepts.…”

Section: Privac Y Con Cern Smentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Forensic investigation approaches of searching relatives in DNA databases

Budowle

2020

Journal of Forensic Sciences

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

There are several indirect database searching approaches to identify the potential source of a forensic biological sample. These DNA‐based approaches are familial searching, Y‐STR database searching, and investigative genetic genealogy (IGG). The first two strategies use forensic DNA databases managed by the government, and the latter uses databases managed by private citizens or companies. Each of these search strategies relies on DNA testing to identify relatives of the donor of the crime scene sample, provided such profiles reside in the DNA database(s). All three approaches have been successfully used to identify the donor of biological evidence, which assisted in solving criminal cases or identifying unknown human remains. This paper describes and compares these approaches in terms of genotyping technologies, searching methods, database structures, searching efficiency, data quality, data security, and costs, and raises some potential privacy and legal considerations for further discussion by stakeholders and scientists. Y‐STR database searching and IGG are advantageous since they are able to assist in more cases than familial searching readily identifying distant relatives. In contrast, familial searching can be performed more readily with existing laboratory systems. Every country or state may have its own unique economic, technical, cultural, and legal considerations and should decide the best approach(es) to fit those circumstances. Regardless of the approach, the ultimate goal should be the same: generate investigative leads and solve active and cold criminal cases to public safety, under stringent policies and security practices designed to protect the privacy of its citizenry.

show abstract

Section: Privacy Concernsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Inve S Ti G Ative G Ene Tic G Ene Alogy (I G G)mentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Privac Y Con Cern Smentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Forensic investigation approaches of searching relatives in DNA databases

Budowle

2020

Journal of Forensic Sciences

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Although the application of IGG has been shown to be successful, critical concerns have been raised regarding its use for law enforcement purposes. These opinions include issues related to ethical and legal aspects [24][25][26][27] and the future use of IGG in the forensic field will therefore not only involve technical challenges. The US Department of Justices (DOJ) published an interim policy in September 2019 in which they, at a general level, described when and how IGG should be used, its limitations, how data should be administrated etc.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Getting the conclusive lead with investigative genetic genealogy – A successful case study of a 16 year old double murder in Sweden

Tillmar

Fagerholm

Staaf

et al. 2021

Forensic Science International: Genetics

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

an eight-year-old boy and a 56-year-old woman were stabbed to death on an open street in the city of Linköping, Sweden. The perpetrator left his DNA at the crime scene, and after 15 years of various investigation efforts, including more than 9000 interrogations and mass DNA screening of more than 6000 men, there were still no clues about the identity of the unknown murderer. The successful application of investigative genetic genealogy (IGG) in the US raised the interest for this tool within the Swedish Police Authority. After legal consultations it was decided that IGG could be applied in this double murder case as a pilot case study. From extensive DNA analysis, including whole-genome sequencing and genotype imputation, DNA data sets were established and searched within both GEDmatch and FamilyTree DNA genealogy databases. A number of fairly distant relatives were found from which family trees were created. The genealogy work resulted in two candidates, two brothers, one of whom matched the crime scene samples by routine STR profiling. The suspect confessed the murders at the initial police hearing and was later convicted of the murders. In this paper we describe the successful application of an emerging technology. We disclose details of the DNA analyses which, due to the poor quality and low quantity of the DNA, required reiterative sequencing and genotype imputation efforts. The successful application of IGG in this double murder case exemplifies its applicability not only in the US but also in Europe. The pressure is now high on the involved authorities to establish IGG as a tool for cold case criminal investigations and for missing person identifications. There is, however, a continuous need to accommodate legal, social and ethical aspects as well.

show abstract

“…Long-range familial searches in recreational DNA databases have been the subject of intense interest since the high-profile case of the Golden State Killer 1 , whose main suspect was identified by a long-range familial search in 2018 2 . This technique has raised considerable media attention and has sparked immediate criticism from forensic geneticists and other professionals, regulators, policy advisors, and ethicists (Arnold 2020;Berkman, Miller, and Grady 2018;Biometrics and Forensics Ethics Group 2020;Curtis et al 2018;Kennett 2019;Murphy 2018;Phillips 2018;Syndercombe-Court 2018;Wickenheiser 2019).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Long-range familial searches in recreational DNA databases: expansion of affected populations, the participatory turn, and the co-production of biovalue

Granja

2020

New Genetics and Society

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Long-range familial searches in recreational DNA databases have been the subject of intense interest since the high-profile case of the Golden State Killer. This technique has raised considerable media attention and has sparked immediate criticism from forensic geneticists and other professionals, regulators, policy advisors, and ethicists. However, the literature on this topic does not capture the complexities resulting from the commodification of genetic data and the marketization of science.In this article, I explore how long-range familial searches conducted in recreational DNA databases reframe the trajectory of forensic genetics. Arguing that the advent and consolidation of long-range familial searches in recreational DNA databases represent the fourth wave of forensic genetics, I detail its implications, namely, the expansion of affected populations, the participatory turn, and the co-production of biovalue.

show abstract

Forensic genealogy, bioethics and the Golden State Killer case

Cited by 54 publications

References 20 publications

Forensic investigation approaches of searching relatives in DNA databases

Forensic investigation approaches of searching relatives in DNA databases

Getting the conclusive lead with investigative genetic genealogy – A successful case study of a 16 year old double murder in Sweden

Long-range familial searches in recreational DNA databases: expansion of affected populations, the participatory turn, and the co-production of biovalue

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About