Forensic DNA Databases HSCI E137 Apr 6, 2011 Second essay due Apr 13 (next Wednesday)

Applications and Issues State databases and CODIS Applications of DNA technology to forensics –Cf. humanitarian and medical uses Some of the issues raised: –Privacy vs security –Database expansion –Race, gender, and science

Passages to discuss: Cole on a universal database…83-4 Berger on finality and post-conviction testing…p. 109 Annas on genetic privacy –Privacy vs. non-discrimination (GINA)…139, 143 –The Icelandic Health Sector Database…141 Charo on secondary use of specimens and informed consent…156, 158

Jeremy Bentham’s blueprint for the panopticon, 1791

Foucault’s Panopticon A distributed, “light” form of power “A transparent building supervised by society as a whole” (207) As a symbol of the disciplinary society –Discipline as a type of power (214, 215) –Disciplines as techniques for ordering human multiplicities (218-9); docility (221) –Disciplines are bodies of knowledge about people as well as means of controlling them; knowledge and power are inseparable (224)