Informed consent is the first, and most key, safeguard to forensic genealogy searches to solve long-unsolved crimes, according to three bioethicists from the National Institutes of Health.
The legal questions around the Fourth Amendment are simpler than the ethical concerns, according to the NIH scientists’ paper in the Annals of Internal Medicine.
“Criminal genealogy searching is a valuable tool but raises important ethical issues that should be examined before the practice is widely adopted,” they write. “Better informed consent would alleviate some of these concerns, particularly if genealogy services actively highlight the possibility of data use for forensic purposes—and the implications for the individual and his or her relatives.”
Read more at Forensic Magazine