Ethics as Lived Practice. Anticipatory Capacity and Ethical Decision-Making in Forensic Genetics
Greater scrutiny and demands for innovation and increased productivity place pressures on scientists. Forensic genetics is advancing at a rapid pace but can only do so responsibly, usefully, and acceptably within ethical and legal boundaries. We argue that such boundaries require that forensic scien...
| Main Authors: | , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2021-11-01
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| Series: | Genes |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4425/12/12/1868 |
| _version_ | 1797504275046203392 |
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| author | Matthias Wienroth Rafaela Granja Veronika Lipphardt Emmanuel Nsiah Amoako Carole McCartney |
| author_facet | Matthias Wienroth Rafaela Granja Veronika Lipphardt Emmanuel Nsiah Amoako Carole McCartney |
| author_sort | Matthias Wienroth |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Greater scrutiny and demands for innovation and increased productivity place pressures on scientists. Forensic genetics is advancing at a rapid pace but can only do so responsibly, usefully, and acceptably within ethical and legal boundaries. We argue that such boundaries require that forensic scientists embrace ‘ethics as lived practice’. As a starting point, we critically discuss ‘thin’ ethics in forensic genetics, which lead to a myopic focus on procedures, and to seeing ‘privacy’ as the sole ethical concern and technology as a mere tool. To overcome ‘thin’ ethics in forensic genetics, we instead propose understanding ethics as an intrinsic part of the lived practice of a scientist. Therefore, we explore, within the context of three case studies of emerging forensic genetics technologies, ethical aspects of decision-making in forensic genetics research and in technology use. We discuss the creation, curation, and use of databases, and the need to engage with societal and policing contexts of forensic practice. We argue that open communication is a vital ethical aspect. Adoption of ‘ethics as lived practice’ supports the development of anticipatory capacity—empowering scientists to understand, and act within ethical and legal boundaries, incorporating the operational and societal impacts of their daily decisions, and making visible ethical decision making in scientific practice. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-10T04:03:16Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-56aba7ca3304436cbc855e745be0edec |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2073-4425 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-10T04:03:16Z |
| publishDate | 2021-11-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Genes |
| spelling | doaj.art-56aba7ca3304436cbc855e745be0edec2023-11-23T08:29:37ZengMDPI AGGenes2073-44252021-11-011212186810.3390/genes12121868Ethics as Lived Practice. Anticipatory Capacity and Ethical Decision-Making in Forensic GeneticsMatthias Wienroth0Rafaela Granja1Veronika Lipphardt2Emmanuel Nsiah Amoako3Carole McCartney4Centre for Crime and Policing, Department of Social Sciences, Northumbria University, Newcastle upon Tyne NE1 8ST, UKCommunication and Society Research Centre, University of Minho, 4710-057 Braga, PortugalUniversity College Freiburg, Albert-Ludwigs-Universität, 79098 Freiburg, GermanyDepartment of Applied Sciences, University of the West of England, Bristol BS16 1QY, UKScience & Justice Research Interest Group, Law School, Northumbria University, Newcastle upon Tyne NE1 8ST, UKGreater scrutiny and demands for innovation and increased productivity place pressures on scientists. Forensic genetics is advancing at a rapid pace but can only do so responsibly, usefully, and acceptably within ethical and legal boundaries. We argue that such boundaries require that forensic scientists embrace ‘ethics as lived practice’. As a starting point, we critically discuss ‘thin’ ethics in forensic genetics, which lead to a myopic focus on procedures, and to seeing ‘privacy’ as the sole ethical concern and technology as a mere tool. To overcome ‘thin’ ethics in forensic genetics, we instead propose understanding ethics as an intrinsic part of the lived practice of a scientist. Therefore, we explore, within the context of three case studies of emerging forensic genetics technologies, ethical aspects of decision-making in forensic genetics research and in technology use. We discuss the creation, curation, and use of databases, and the need to engage with societal and policing contexts of forensic practice. We argue that open communication is a vital ethical aspect. Adoption of ‘ethics as lived practice’ supports the development of anticipatory capacity—empowering scientists to understand, and act within ethical and legal boundaries, incorporating the operational and societal impacts of their daily decisions, and making visible ethical decision making in scientific practice.https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4425/12/12/1868ethicsforensic geneticsethics as lived practicedecision-makinggenetic databasingforensic DNA phenotyping |
| spellingShingle | Matthias Wienroth Rafaela Granja Veronika Lipphardt Emmanuel Nsiah Amoako Carole McCartney Ethics as Lived Practice. Anticipatory Capacity and Ethical Decision-Making in Forensic Genetics Genes ethics forensic genetics ethics as lived practice decision-making genetic databasing forensic DNA phenotyping |
| title | Ethics as Lived Practice. Anticipatory Capacity and Ethical Decision-Making in Forensic Genetics |
| title_full | Ethics as Lived Practice. Anticipatory Capacity and Ethical Decision-Making in Forensic Genetics |
| title_fullStr | Ethics as Lived Practice. Anticipatory Capacity and Ethical Decision-Making in Forensic Genetics |
| title_full_unstemmed | Ethics as Lived Practice. Anticipatory Capacity and Ethical Decision-Making in Forensic Genetics |
| title_short | Ethics as Lived Practice. Anticipatory Capacity and Ethical Decision-Making in Forensic Genetics |
| title_sort | ethics as lived practice anticipatory capacity and ethical decision making in forensic genetics |
| topic | ethics forensic genetics ethics as lived practice decision-making genetic databasing forensic DNA phenotyping |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4425/12/12/1868 |
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