California to be test case, perhaps ...


California takes lead on DNA crime-fighting technique

The state will search its database for relatives of unidentified suspects in hopes of developing leads. Critics voice privacy concerns.

By Maura Dolan and Jason Felch, Los Angeles Times Staff Writers

April 26, 2008

California will adopt the most aggressive approach in the nation to a controversial crime-fighting technique that uses DNA to try to identify elusive criminals through their relatives, state Atty. Gen. Jerry Brown announced Friday.

Employing what is known as familial or "partial match" searching, the policy is aimed at identifying a suspect through DNA collected at a crime scene by looking for potential relatives in the state's genetic database of about a million felons. Once a relative is identified, police can use that person as a lead to trace the suspect.

The new plan makes California a leader in such searches, which several states permit but do not vigorously pursue. Colorado has recently begun to examine its database for relatives of unknown criminals as part of a research project.

for the full article, click HERE.

I bet the health insurance companies would love to be able to set your premiums based on familial DNA screening.

quote:

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Originally posted by AlexLayman:
I bet the health insurance companies would love to be able to set your premiums based on familial DNA screening.

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That is prohibited by law in Texas and at the federal level, I believe.

We need to do this in Texas as well. We can't let ourselves be outdone by California!