Naming the dead: DNA-based identification of historical remains as an act of care

Abstract

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Objects of Crime: Bodies, Embodiment and Forensic Pathology

“…Beyond this, the deceased person may benefit too. To understand this, we can draw upon Scully’s (2014) work regarding remembering missing war veterans, where she developed the idea that a person’s life can be affected by events outside of it. Following this line of reasoning, if the ante-mortem person had an interest in, say, their body being treated in a particular way or their killer being held to account, then this can be said to throw a ‘backwards light’ on the meaning of the deceased person’s life (Pitcher, 1984; Scarre, 2012).…”

Ethical Controversies of Familial Searching: The Views of Stakeholders in the United Kingdom and in Poland

“…As Vaisman (2018) argues, making use of the genetic material of relatives to identify the missing demonstrates "the strong intertwining of persons across generations and within kinship networks" (p. 7). Nevertheless, so far, the debate over the domain of missing persons has been focused mainly on the symbolic treatment of corpses by societies affected by mass violence (Anstett 2014) and on the practical provisions of establishing guidelines regarding appropriate practices when dealing with bones, bodies, victims, and families (Scully 2014). Ethical controversies associated with DNA identification in the civil domain have only recently begun to be explored in the literature.…”

“…In addition to criminal investigation purposes, familial searching might be used to search for missing persons and identify unknown bodies. Among several other technologies and strategies—such as dental records, radiographs, and photographic comparisons—procedures that make use of DNA to match unidentified bodies and/or persons with individuals thought to be their biological relatives are increasingly relevant (Haimes and Toom 2014; Schwartz-Marín and Cruz-Santiago 2017; Scully 2014; Smith 2017; Wagner 2008). Although these uses of genetic tests are rarely framed in terms of familial searching, for the purposes of this article, we shall use the term familial searching to describe the use of techniques that infer genetic relatedness between the missing—whether they are dead, disappeared, murdered, or martyred (Smith 2017)—and their relatives.…”

“…A growing body of literature has been explaining how family and victim groups, humanitarian organizations, states, and criminal courts are increasingly calling upon forensic science—particularly DNA technologies—to assist in the identification of and search for missing persons (Haimes and Toom 2014; Wagner 2008). The positive outcomes of DNA identification in this particular context tend to be framed by a humanitarian rationale (Scully 2014). This type of endeavor is generally considered as enabling the “dignification” of both the dead and the living (Gandsman 2012; Garibian 2014; Moon 2013); it also allows forms of making sense and the resignification of past and present-day human atrocities to be constructed (Schwartz-Marín and Cruz-Santiago 2017).…”

“…Ethical controversies associated with DNA identification in the civil domain have only recently begun to be explored in the literature. These few contributions have highlighted how the bioethics of DNA-based civil identification should consider incidental findings related to unexpected genetic relationships and/or health risks, criteria of confidentiality and access to DNA databases, and the potential risk of the geneticization of personal identity and that of the family, as well as the kinds of potential repercussions for victims and families (Haimes and Toom 2014; Scully 2014).…”