 |
Part 4: Assessments & handouts
|
|
|
|
Part 4: ASSESSMENTS & HANDOUTS
Homework assignment:
Have students read the April 2008 Washington Post article “From DNA of Family, a Tool to Make Arrests, ” and answer the following questions using the information from the slideshow and/or ideas from the class discussion. A handout for students may be found on page 21.
1. What are the benefits of law enforcement using the DNA of a suspect’s relative to try to catch the suspect? What might be concerning about this approach? Explain.
2. It has been estimated that African Americans comprise approximately 40% of the CODIS database, despite comprising about 13% of the United States population. By extension, then, relatives of African-Americans are also more likely to be identified in familial searches of an offender database. What do you think about this discrepancy? Should something be changed to bring this more in line with the racial makeup of the United States population? How important are race and privacy considerations when developing these policies?
“DNA, Crime, and Law Enforcement” quiz answer key
(see page 22 for quiz)
To identify suspect, to identify victims and missing persons, and to provide evidence to support exonerations.
Mitochondrial DNA. It is passed down to offspring generally only through the egg and not the sperm. Thus, it links the grandchildren, through their biological mothers, to the Grandmothers.
D
F
T
T
F
DNA, Crime, and Law Enforcement
STUDENT HANDOUT
Name_____________________________________ Date____________
Scenario A: Mitochondrial DNA and the Grandmothers of Plaza de Mayo
How can mitochondrial DNA be used to solve crimes, and should there be a limit to the role courts have in enforcing DNA testing on an unknown relative?
During Argentina’s “Dirty War” (1976-1983), Argentina’s military dictatorship declared war against those suspected of being “communist opponents” of the country’s leaders. The war tactics used included torture, abduction and murder of adults and children. It is estimated that 10, 000-30, 000 citizens were taken by the Argentinian government and labeled as “disappeared” or “desaparecidos”, including an unknown number of children. Many pregnant women placed in detention camps by the dictatorship had their babies taken after birth and in many cases given or sold to couples with close ties to the military. The women were usually murdered, and the identities of children were erased.
Locating the children and connecting them to the biological families from whom they were taken, is the mission of the “Abuelas de Plaza de Mayo” (Grandmothers of the Plaza de Mayo), a group of mothers of the murdered women. Weekly demonstrations in front of the presidential palace gained international attention, including from US and Argentinian geneticists.
In 1984, Dr. Mary-Claire King, a geneticist from the University of California, Berkeley teamed up with Dr. Ana Maria DiLonardo, a geneticist from Buenos Aires, Argentina. They developed a test that could identify a genetic link between the grandmothers and their grandchildren using mitochondrial DNA. Mitochondrial DNA is a part of our DNA that is generally passed down to offspring via the egg and not via the sperm. Thus, this type of DNA provides a genetic link from the grandchildren, via their biological mothers, to the Grandmothers, who were trying to find them.
|
|
|
In 1989, the Grandmothers were able to push the Argentinian government to set up a National Genetic Data Bank. This bank collects and stores the DNA of the relatives of missing children, so that genetic identification can be done in the future even after the grandmothers have passed away.
Discussion questions:
1. How was mitochondrial DNA used to reunite families?
2. In 2010, Argentinian courts ordered that the DNA of two adopted children of a wealthy businessman be tested, against their will, to determine if they are children who were kidnapped during the Dirty War. Do you think the court order was right or wrong? Do the children have a right to not know who are their biological parents? Explain.
Name_____________________________________ Date____________
Scenario B: The Grim Sleeper
Should law enforcement use a technique called ‘familial searching’ to solve violent crimes?
There was a string of unsolved murders of black women in the 1980s in Los Angeles, CA. Many of the victims were killed with the same gun, so police suspected it was a serial killer. There were at least eight people killed between 1985-1988, but then there seemed to be a pause in the murders. The community was frightening, and frustrated, as many felt the cases did not get a fair amount of attention because the victims were mostly young black women, and some were prostitutes.
In 2007, a murder took place that investigators believed was linked to the 1985-1988 murders. DNA from the unknown perpetrator found on the victim, Janecia Peters, connected Peters to the women who had been killed in the 1980s. The murderer was given the nickname “The Grim Sleeper” because police thought he had taken a break (or “slept”) for a long period between the killings. However, they now believe he probably never “slept. ”
When law enforcement ran the murderer’s DNA against an offender DNA database, they did not find a perfect match. However, using familial searching, they did identify someone whose DNA was very similar: Christopher Franklin. Christopher Franklin was too young to be the murderer, but his father, Lonnie Franklin, was of an age where it was possible that he might be the killer.
Police obtained a DNA sample from Lonnie Franklin by following him to a restaurant and, with an officer posing as an employee, collected tableware and pizza crust with his DNA on it. Lonnie Franklin’s DNA was a perfect match with the DNA found at the crime scenes, and he was arrested. He was convicted in 2016 of the murders of ten women and girls, but police think he may have murdered more than 25 people. He was sentenced to death and is in jail in California as of June 2019.
Discussion questions:
1. How was Lonnie Franklin caught? Explain.
2. Is it acceptable to look for suspects by comparing DNA from a crime scene to relatives of people whose DNA is in a criminal database? Is this an invasion of privacy or a good crime-fighting technique? Explain your answer.
Name_____________________________________ Date____________
|
|
|
