Familial Searching

Genetic Surveillance, cont.

Also added to this concept is that “genetic surveillance” is done disproportionately, because minorities are overrepresented in DNA databases. Starting with the latter point, while the question of disproportionality may have some initial appeal, the composition of the database is directly proportional to the composition of offenders who commit the crimes that require them to be in the database. At the same time there is no doubt that the composition of the database is disproportional to the community at large.

A brief discussion of the California Department of Justice protocol and how it has been used and was used during the “Grim Sleeper” search and investigation will illustrate how the concern about “genetic surveillance” was minimized.