A variety of legal measures are needed to protect against potential abuses of gargantuan genetic repositories.
Cops can collect DNA when making an arrest, sometimes before charging a person with a crime.
This practice poses a threat to the civil liberties of innocent people
Starting in the mid-1980s, a serial killer murdered at least 10 women in the Los Angeles area. Nicknamed the “Grim Sleeper” because of the long dormancy between his crimes, he eluded capture for nearly 25 years. Then, in 2010, police arrested a man in California for what appeared to be a totally unrelated felony weapons charge. State law required the man to submit a DNA sample for a national DNA database. Typically a DNA database search looks for an exact match between a profile of DNA left at a crime scene by an unknown person and the profile of a known convicted offender. It focuses on 13 places in the genome (the full complement of our DNA) where bits of genetic material vary from person to person. If the crime-scene material differs in any of those 13 places, then the samples do not match, and investigators know that they do not have their suspect.
This time, however, the search was more subtle. It aimed to find DNA profiles that were similar, but not an exact match, to that of the Grim Sleeper. Such an inquiry was possible because in 2008 California became the first state in the nation to formally authorize a new kind of database search.
The Latest Bing News on:
Massive DNA Databases
- Hackers stole seven million people’s DNA. What they’ll do with it is bafflingon December 5, 2023 at 8:22 am
In 2018, one of California’s most prolific serial killers and rapists Joseph James DeAngelo was arrested after police matched his DNA to a relative who had had their DNA tested online. He later pled ...
- Hackers access DNA data of millions of 23andMe userson December 5, 2023 at 6:34 am
Some 6.9 million 23andMe customers had their data compromised after an anonymous hacker accessed user profiles and posted them for sale on the internet earlier this year, the company said on Monday.
- Can DNA technology Help Rebuild a Family Tree?on November 30, 2023 at 11:18 pm
[Byron] The big DNA databases are mostly made up of samples from people of European descent, with a lot fewer DNA samples from black people, whether they are now living in Africa or the Americas ...
- The DNA Detectiveon November 28, 2023 at 4:50 am
RCMP officer Dean Lerat, a member of Cowessess First Nation in Saskatchewan, found many of his long-lost relatives using a DNA-testing kit. Now he does volunteer genealogy work to help others connect ...
- How DNA Profiling Workson November 27, 2023 at 6:17 pm
If you were thrown into prison for a crime you didn't commit, you'd probably welcome DNA profiling. Although the use of this technology has recently helped bring justice, there may be cause for ...
- How DNA Profiling Workson November 27, 2023 at 4:00 pm
The term "DNA," once used only by scientists, has become part of our everyday lexicon. It's almost impossible to not know of DNA profiling, from the court system to genealogy. It's also nearly ...
- How DNA Profiling Workson November 27, 2023 at 4:00 pm
The term "DNA," once used only by scientists, has become part of our everyday lexicon. It's almost impossible to not know of DNA profiling, from the court system to genealogy. It's also nearly ...
- An AI Tool Just Revealed Almost 200 New Systems for CRISPR Gene Editingon November 27, 2023 at 2:36 pm
The AI combed through hundreds of thousands of genomes from rare bacteria—including those found in breweries, coal mines, and dog saliva.
- National DNA database matches 50% of ‘unknown crime stains’ sent for analysison November 23, 2023 at 4:01 pm
Approximately half of “unknown crime stains” sent to Forensic Science Ireland from crime scenes now result in a match with samples contained on the national DNA database. The head of DNA with ...
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Massive DNA Databases
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- DNA links death row convict to 1998 rape and murder of Broward woman, BSO sayson December 5, 2023 at 12:07 pm
In the evening hours of Dec. 18, 1998, Boyd — then 39 — dragged Truppner to an isolated area of U.S. 27, about a mile north of Interstate 75, where he raped and murdered her, detectives say. The ...
- Hackers stole a million people's DNA. What they'll do with it is bafflingon December 5, 2023 at 8:22 am
In 2018, one of California’s most prolific serial killers and rapists Joseph James DeAngelo was arrested after police matched his DNA to a relative who had had their DNA tested online. He later pled ...
- Hackers access DNA data of millions of 23andMe userson December 5, 2023 at 6:34 am
Some 6.9 million 23andMe customers had their data compromised after an anonymous hacker accessed user profiles and posted them for sale on the internet earlier this year, the company said on Monday.
- Controversial cold case DNA tool: Privacy Commissioner asks police to suspend use pending legislative reformon December 2, 2023 at 9:24 pm
Police are trialling the tool on two of the country's most high-profile cases.
- DNA database holds clues to diseaseon November 29, 2023 at 4:01 pm
UK Biobank is set to release 300,000 whole genomes two years after it made available 200,000, making it the largest resource in the world ...
- The DNA Detectiveon November 28, 2023 at 4:50 am
RCMP officer Dean Lerat, a member of Cowessess First Nation in Saskatchewan, found many of his long-lost relatives using a DNA-testing kit. Now he does volunteer genealogy work to help others connect ...
- How DNA Profiling Workson November 27, 2023 at 6:17 pm
If you were thrown into prison for a crime you didn't commit, you'd probably welcome DNA profiling. Although the use of this technology has recently helped bring justice, there may be cause for ...
- National DNA database matches 50% of ‘unknown crime stains’ sent for analysison November 23, 2023 at 4:01 pm
Last year, DNA samples taken from crime scenes led to matches with DNA on the database in 705 cases, including 220 of burglary, 81 of robbery/theft, 64 of car theft, 30 of assault and 26 of sexual ...
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