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Abstract
Forensic DNA databases have received an inordinate amount ofacademic and judicial attention. From their inception, numerousscholars, advocates, and judges have wrestled with the proper reach ofDNA collection, retention, and search policies. Central to thesedebates are concerns about racial equity in forensic genetic practices.Yet when such questions arise, critics typically just assert that forensicDNA databases are not demographically representative. Suchassertions are expressed in vague or conclusory terms, without acitation to actual data or even to concrete estimates about the actualcomposition of DNA databases.
This Article endeavors to fill these gaps in the literature byproviding demographic information about the composition of forensicDNA databases. We draw upon two sources. First, we obtained datafrom states in response to our requests under freedom of informationlaws. Second, we devised an original estimate based on publicinformation about each state’s DNA collection policies and thedemographic data that matches those policies. In other words, wereverse-engineered the national DNA database. Both approachesrevealed dramatic disparities in the racial composition of DNAdatabases, including that DNA profiles from Black persons arecollected at two to three times the rate of White persons.
We then use our data on the actual and estimated racialcomposition of DNA databases to identify and illuminate four questionsfundamental to forensic DNA policy. First, the data centers racialjustice concerns as critical to debates about the proper scope ofcollection and search policies, as well as the impact of forensic DNAdatabase practices more generally. Second, the data casts light on thesignificance, determinacy, and stability of race and ethnicity asmeaningful biological and social categories. Third, the data providesinsight into the advantages and disadvantages of choosing amongarchitectural approaches when collecting, storing, and searchingsensitive data such as genetic profiles. And finally, the data promptsquestions about genetic privacy more generally, including how toweigh the significance of criminal justice practices in an increasinglygenetically transparent society.