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Genetic witness : science, law, and controversy in the making of DNA profiling / Jay D. Aronson.
- Format:
- Book
- Author/Creator:
- Aronson, Jay D., 1974-
- Language:
- English
- Subjects (All):
- DNA fingerprinting--Great Britain--History.
- DNA fingerprinting.
- DNA fingerprinting--United States--History.
- Forensic genetics--Great Britain--History.
- Forensic genetics.
- Forensic genetics--United States--History.
- Physical Description:
- 1 online resource (286 p.)
- Edition:
- 1st ed.
- Place of Publication:
- New Brunswick : Rutgers University Press, c2007.
- Language Note:
- English
- Summary:
- When DNA profiling was first introduced into the American legal system in 1987, it was heralded as a technology that would revolutionize law enforcement. As an investigative tool, it has lived up to much of this hype—it is regularly used to track down unknown criminals, put murderers and rapists behind bars, and exonerate the innocent. Yet, this promise took ten turbulent years to be fulfilled. In Genetic Witness, Jay D. Aronson uncovers the dramatic early history of DNA profiling that has been obscured by the technique’s recent success. He demonstrates that robust quality control and quality assurance measures were initially nonexistent, interpretation of test results was based more on assumption than empirical evidence, and the technique was susceptible to error at every stage. Most of these issues came to light only through defense challenges to what prosecutors claimed to be an infallible technology. Although this process was fraught with controversy, inefficiency, and personal antagonism, the quality of DNA evidence improved dramatically as a result. Aronson argues, however, that the dream of a perfect identification technology remains unrealized.
- Contents:
- Science for hire
- DNA on trial
- Challenging DNA
- Public science
- The DNA wars
- The debate in Washington
- The DNA wars are over
- The legacy of history.
- Notes:
- Description based upon print version of record.
- Includes bibliographical references (p. 245-257) and index.
- ISBN:
- 9786611244200
- 1-281-24420-1
- 0-8135-4383-5
- OCLC:
- 476144406
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