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Big Brother and His Science Kit: DNA Databases for 21st Century Crime Control?

2000; Northwestern University School of Law; Volume: 90; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês

10.2307/1144232

2160-0325

Paul E. Tracy, Vincent Morgan,

Forensic and Genetic Research

Every human being carries with him from his cradle to his grave certain physical marks which do not change their character, and by which he can always be identified-and that without shade of doubt or question.These marks are his signature, his physiological autograph, so to speak, and this autograph cannot be counterfeited, nor can he disguise it or hide it away, nor can it become illegible by the wear and the mutations of time.This signature is not his face-age can change that beyond recognition; it is not his hair, for that can fall out; it is not his height, for duplicates of that exist; it is not his form, for duplicates of that exist also, whereas this signature is every man's very own-there is no duplicate of it among the swarming populations of the globe!-Pudd'nhead Wilson Mark Twain was speaking about fingerprints, of course, but prophetically, he might just as well have been speaking about DNA.2The protagonist in Pudd'nhead Wilson was an attorney who had a passion for collecting fingerprints.One wonders if a modern-day version of Twain's vivid character would have the same affinity for collecting samples of DNA for law enforcement purposes.As law enforcement agencies the world over have been amassing huge collections of fingerprints since the closing .