
DNA Sample from Son Leads to Arrest of Alleged Serial Killer Father - phsr
http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2010/07/dna-database/
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TGJ
The headline tells us that we will be reading about how DNA solved yet another
case. The twist being a son's DNA being good enough to convict the Father. So
why exactly do they include tidbits about how blacks will be
disproportionately affected?

At the end of the 5th paragraph you get "A disproportionate number of people
with profiles in the database are African American." So? What does this have
to do with the DNA convicting a serial killer?

Seems more that there really is not much of a story so lets stick in some race
baiting flame war topic to drum up the story.

~~~
silentOpen
The son's DNA was _not_ good enough to convict the father. The son's DNA was
good enough to lead police to investigate the family which lead to the arrest
of the father.

The problem regarding race that the article mentions is simply one of social
statistics: if 10x more convictions per 1k convictions occur for group A than
group B and we assume convictions are familially independent (close enough),
people in group A are 10x more likely to be suspected of a crime via familial
inference than those in group B.

It's not quite racial profiling but it does imply that you have fewer rights
as a genetic relative of a convict than as a non-relative. That's somewhat
disturbing.

