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The Scarlet Gene: Behavioral Genetics, Criminal Law, And Racial And Ethnic Stigma, Karen H. Rothenberg, Alice Wang
The Scarlet Gene: Behavioral Genetics, Criminal Law, And Racial And Ethnic Stigma, Karen H. Rothenberg, Alice Wang
Faculty Scholarship
Imagine that a scientist from the state university asks you and your family to participate in a study on a particular gene variant associated with alcoholism. The project focuses on your ethnic group, the Tracy Islanders, who have a higher incidence of alcoholism, as well as a higher incidence of the gene variant, than the general population. You will not be informed whether you have the gene variant, but your participation in the study might help scientists develop drugs to help individuals control their addiction to alcohol. You have a family history of alcoholism, and you are concerned that your …
Undesirable Implications Of Disclosing Individual Genetic Results To Research Participants, Leslie Meltzer Henry
Undesirable Implications Of Disclosing Individual Genetic Results To Research Participants, Leslie Meltzer Henry
Faculty Scholarship
The bioethics and legal community are divided over whether investigators who conduct biomedical research are ethically and/or legally obligated to disclose incidental genetic findings to research participants. This paper argues that the justification for disclosure rests on the mistaken view that principles of beneficence, respect, reciprocity, and/or justice require researchers to offer participants individual genetic results. Whereas these principles and others obligate physicians to share individually relevant results with patients with whom they share a fiduciary relationship in the clinical care setting, they do not similarly obligate investigators to share such information with participants in the research setting. Furthermore, proposals …
Revisiting The Legal Link Between Genetics And Crime, Deborah W. Denno
Revisiting The Legal Link Between Genetics And Crime, Deborah W. Denno
Faculty Scholarship
Unwarranted constraints on the admissibility of genetics evidence in death penalty cases can undercut some defendants' efforts to fight their executions. For example, genetics evidence can help validate some traditionally accepted mitigating factors (such as certain psychiatric or behavioral disorders) that can otherwise be difficult for defendants to prove. By imposing unreasonable limitations on genetics arguments, the criminal justice system may be undermining the very principles and progressive thinking the cap on genetics evidence was originally intended to achieve. Part II of this article briefly reviews the facts and legal arguments in Mobley v. State. Part III addresses the primary …
Behavioural Genetics In Criminal Cases: Past, Present And Future, Nita A. Farahany, William Bernet
Behavioural Genetics In Criminal Cases: Past, Present And Future, Nita A. Farahany, William Bernet
Faculty Scholarship
Researchers studying human behavioral genetics have made significant scientific progress in enhancing our understanding of the relative contributions of genetics and the environment in observed variations in human behavior. Quickly outpacing the advances in the science are its applications in the criminal justice system. Already, human behavioral genetics research has been introduced in the U.S. criminal justice system, and its use will only become more prevalent. This essay discusses the recent historical use of behavioral genetics in criminal cases, recent advances in two gene variants of particular interest in the criminal law, MAOA and SLC6A4, the recent expert testimony on …