Mopping Up After Coming Clean About 'Junk DNA'

Abstract

In Coming Clean About 'Junk DNA,' Professor Simon Cole puts a final spin on the exchange of views about the privacy implications of law enforcement DNA databases in Joh (2006), Kaye (2006), Cole (2007), and Kaye (2007). He interprets such phrases as 'contain predictive medical information' and 'have predictive value' as applied to the CODIS STR types recorded in offender databases to mean 'only a very small amount of predictive value, at least currently.' He also criticizes my emphasis on the fact that there are strong reasons to question the prediction that the CODIS profiles ever will constitute valuable medical information as unduly 'presentist.' This paper provides a brief response.

Keywords: privacy, forensic DNA, CODIS loci, offender databases