The incorporation of genetics and genomics into medical care and the public domain raises new challenges for how we understand privacy and identity, concepts that have long been closely linked in American discourse.
PROJECT NARRATIVE Investigative genetic genealogy, a technique used by law enforcement to generate leads in criminal cases through searches of genetic genealogy databases, raises important privacy concerns for database participants and their families. This project will measure public preferences related to law enforcement participation in genetic genealogy databases and develop best practices for investigative genetic genealogy that operationalize these preferences by engaging experts and relevant constituencies.
This 20-item survey by Guerrini and colleagues can be used to assess public opinion on police access to genetic genealogy databases. The survey assesses participant characteristics and views on the purposes that law enforcement should be allowed to search genealogical websites and social media accounts, whether law enforcement should be allowed to require direct-to-consumer testing companies to reveal information about their customers, and other topics.
Law Enforcement and Genetic Data: A Discussion for Journalists • October 26, 2021
PROJECT NARRATIVE Between 1907 and the mid-1970s, 32 US states passed and implemented eugenic sterilization laws that authorized the sterilization of people considered unfit. Our epidemiological, historical and mixed-methods analysis of over 32,000 eugenic sterilization requests in five US states (California, North Carolina, Iowa, Michigan and Utah) identifies varying demographic patterns and documents changes in how eugenics laws were applied over time.