The Forensic Genetics Policy Initiative (FGPI) is a global human rights project, chaired by the Council for Responsible Genetics, GeneWatch UK and Privacy International, which is dedicated to ensuring that the expansion of DNA databases is consistent with human rights principles. ... [More]

DNA so dangerous that it doesn't exist in nature has been given its first useful role – keeping innocent people out of jail. Several sequences of DNA not found in nature – probably because they are incompatible with life – were identified in 2007. Now it seems these so-calle... [More]

An Oklahoma man who was arrested and jailed for allegedly raping a 4-year-old girl intends to sue authorities for holding for three months while he pleaded with them to perform a DNA test, which eventually cleared him.   Tommy Braden, 26, of Sapulpa, Okla., was arrested in April 2012 af... [More]

On February 26, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in Maryland v. King, which presents the question of whether the Fourth Amendment permits the warrantless collection of DNA from people arrested for, but not convicted of, a crime. Currently, twenty-eight states and federal law enforcement co... [More]

  March 13, 2013       Senator Tick Segerblom - Chair   Senator Ruben J. Kihuen - Vice Chair Nevada Senate Judiciary Committee 401 S. Carson Street, Room 2121Carson City, NV 89701-4747   RE: SB 243   Dear Senators,   We are very concerned a... [More]

Sixty years ago, scientists first discovered DNA, the structure in which a person’s genes are encoded. Since then, our knowledge of the genome has revolutionized medicine. But when it comes to the U.S. legal system, important questions about what a gene is remain unsolved. Here's one questi... [More]

The Supreme Court justices sounded closely split Tuesday on what one of them called the most important criminal procedure case in decades, a challenge to whether police may routinely take DNA samples from suspects and put the results in a national database.   "Why isn't this the fingerp... [More]

More than a quarter-century since Florida became the first state to use Now it’s the U.S. Supreme Court’s turn to hear, and hopefully settle, the issue. On Tuesday, February 26, lawyers for the state of Maryland and a convicted rapist presented oral arguments on whether authorities ... [More]

The National Academy of Sciences unsuccessfully recommended the federal government establish an independent agency for advancing forensic science similar to one in the Netherlands that recently helped authorities conduct a DNA sweep to nab a rapist who in 1999 murdered a 16-year-old.   ... [More]

The Supreme Court will revisit the crossroad of privacy and evolving science later this month when it considers whether officials can take the DNA -- without a warrant -- of someone who has been arrested but not convicted of a crime.   While all states require DNA from individuals convi... [More]