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Inside the cell : the dark side of forensic DNA / ... Read More

Available copies

  • 1 of 1 copy available at LARL/NWRL Consortium.
  • 1 of 1 copy available at Northwest Regional Library. (Show preferred library)

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Location Call Number / Copy Notes Barcode Shelving Location Status Due Date
Hallock Public Library 363.2562 MUR (Text) 35500005703960 Main Available -

Record details

  • ISBN: 9781568584690 (hardback)
  • Physical Description: xii, 383 pages : illustrations ; 25 cm
  • Publisher: New York, NY : Nation Books, 2015.

Content descriptions

Bibliography, etc. Note:
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Formatted Contents Note:
The Basics : DNA Typing for Dummies -- The Dirty ... Read More
Summary, etc.:
"DNA typing -- the analysis of a biological sample ... Read More
Subject: DNA fingerprinting > Law and legislation > United States.
SOCIAL SCIENCE / Criminology.
LAW / Forensic Science.
POLITICAL SCIENCE / Political Freedom & Security / Law Enforcement.
LDR 04701cam a2200373 i 4500
001193541
003LARL_NWRL_CONSORTIUM
00520151103150356.0
008150520s2015 nyua b 001 0 eng
020 . ‡a9781568584690 (hardback)
020 . ‡z9781568584706 (ebook)
042 . ‡apcc
043 . ‡an-us---
08200. ‡a363.25/62 ‡223
084 . ‡aSOC004000 ‡aLAW041000 ‡aPOL014000 ‡2bisacsh
1001 . ‡aMurphy, Erin E. ‡c(Law teacher) ‡eauthor.
24510. ‡aInside the cell : ‡bthe dark side of forensic DNA / ‡cErin E. Murphy.
264 1. ‡aNew York, NY : ‡bNation Books, ‡c2015.
300 . ‡axii, 383 pages : ‡billustrations ; ‡c25 cm
336 . ‡atext ‡2rdacontent
337 . ‡aunmediated ‡2rdamedia
338 . ‡avolume ‡2rdacarrier
520 . ‡a"DNA typing -- the analysis of a biological sample for a person's genetic signature -- has led to the unprecedented exoneration of hundreds of wrongfully convicted people. And every day we hear stories about how police used DNA to capture a dangerous rapist or killer. Reading these accounts, it is hard not to think of DNA typing as an unmitigated good. Who can argue with a technology that helps catch bad guys and correct law enforcement mistakes? But there is a darker side to this story -- a version less likely to play out on dramatic television shows. In Inside the Cell, Erin Murphy shows how DNA typing can be subject to misuse, mistake, and error, and lead to a police state run amok. Murphy shows the perils of a society in which "stop-and-frisk" becomes "stop-and-spit," or in which police pose undercover to get a DNA sample from your discarded lunch. Already, police can collect DNA when making an arrest, sometimes before charging a person with a crime. The government is building a massive DNA database, stockpiling samples from as much as a third of the male population, and the laws regulating what they can and cannot do with them are weak. Murphy shows how this invites the riskiest kind of genetic surveillance imaginable. Just because DNA testing is good science does not mean that it is foolproof. Faulty forensic science is the number two factor leading to wrongful conviction, and yet we have done little to improve the use of science in criminal justice. Forensic labs are largely unregulated and lacking in meaningful oversight standards, as evidenced by the involvement of nearly every major forensic lab in a DNA-related scandal. We have invested hundreds of millions of dollars to collect DNA samples from convicted offenders. But we have spent far less to hire analysts to wade through huge backlogs, and virtually nothing to ensure that evidence will ever even collected from the crime scene. We are at a critical moment in time for forensic DNA testing programs. We may continue on the road we are on now, with our blind faith and limitless enthusiasm for handing over our genetic secrets to the police for them to use at their unfettered discretion. Or, as Murphy advises here, we can pause to take stock of our failures and our successes, appreciate what is truly at stake and what is truly to be gained, and change course toward a smarter DNA policy that is in everybody's interest. "-- ‡cProvided by publisher.
504 . ‡aIncludes bibliographical references and index.
5050 . ‡aThe Basics : DNA Typing for Dummies -- The Dirty Business of Crime : the Challenge of Forensic Samples -- Phantom Suspects : The Prevalence of DNA Transfer -- Contamination, Mistake, and Outright Fraud -- Single Cell Samples : Low Copy Number DNA -- Brave New World of Probabilities -- Dangers of the Database : Cold Hits and Coincidental Matches -- Confusion in the Box : DNA on Trial -- Fishing for Suspects -- "License, Registration, and Cheek Swab, Please" -- Sneak Sampling, Dragnet Searches, and Rogue Databases -- Genetic Informants : Familial Searches -- Beyond Junk : Screening for Physical and Behavioral Traits -- DNA at the Fringes : Twins, Chimerism, and Synthetic DNA -- Race and the Universal DNA Database -- Reform : Efficiency, Accountability, Accuracy, Privacy, and Equality.
650 0. ‡aDNA fingerprinting ‡xLaw and legislation ‡zUnited States.
650 7. ‡aSOCIAL SCIENCE / Criminology. ‡2bisacsh
650 7. ‡aLAW / Forensic Science. ‡2bisacsh
650 7. ‡aPOLITICAL SCIENCE / Political Freedom & Security / Law Enforcement. ‡2bisacsh
901 . ‡a193541 ‡b ‡c193541 ‡tbiblio

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