Chunk #128 — III. Selected Methodological Issues — D. Ethical issues in high density genotyping of individuals who are selected due to self-reported illegal behaviors

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Molecular genetics of addiction and related heritable phenotypes: genome-wide association approaches identify "connectivity constellation" and drug target genes with pleiotropic effects.

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Increasingly-ubiquitous DNA testing related to criminal activities lies at the heart of these concerns. In the United States, each state has a DNA database that collects information from crime scenes and from offenders convicted of particular offenses. A combined DNA index system (CODIS) operates local, State, and national DNA profile databases from convicted offenders, unsolved crime scenes and missing persons. Numerous suspects have been identified through matches between DNA profiles from crime scenes and profiles from convicted offenders. A relevant website reports that the “success of CODIS is demonstrated by the thousands of matches that have linked serial cases to each other and cases that have been solved by matching crime scene evidence to known convicted offenders”. The European Union is just one of the other international entities with a similar system (http://www.interpol.com/Public/Forensic/dna/dnafaq.asp).