Equal before the Law
On the Machinery of Sameness in Forensic DNA Practice
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 5337767 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Amade M’charek (0000-0001-5242-2406, University of Amsterdam, corresponding author), Rob Hagendijk (0000-0002-2516-092X, University of Amsterdam), Wiebe De Vries (0000-0001-6369-583X, Jaeger Advocaten-belastingkundigen, Amsterdam, Netherlands) |
| Year | 2013 |
| Volume | 38 |
| Issue | 4 |
| Pages | 542-565 |
| Publication date | 2013-07-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Science Technology & Human Values (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0162-2439 • E-ISSN: 1552-8251 |
| Publisher | SAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1177/0162243912453623 |
| OpenAlex | W2070752506 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 8 |
| References cited | 29 |
The social and legal implications of forensic DNA are paramount. For this reason, forensic DNA enjoys ample attention from legal, bioethics, and science and technology studies scholars. This article contributes to the scholarship by focusing on the neglected issue of sameness. We investigate a forensic courtroom case which started in the early '90s and focus on three modes of making similarities: (1) creating equality before the law, (2) making identity, and (3) establishing standards. We argue that equality before the law is not merely a principle but a practice. In the context of DNA research, equality refers to using standardized technology and procedures to identify the criminal suspect. Our case shows the work at stake in introducing a new technology into the courtroom and serves as a lens, magnifying how contingencies and uncertainties are managed and ordered in everyday court practices to arrive at an equal treatment of the suspect
Bioethics · Criminal law · Criminology · Jurisprudence · Political science · Scholarship · Sociology · Suspect · Ethics in Clinical Research · Forensic and Genetic Research · Law · Race, Genetics, and Society
Affective bureaucratic relations
Police epistemic culture and boundary work with judicial authorities and forensic scientists
Ethics in Transnational Forensic DNA Data Exchange in the EU
Race as technology and the carceral methodologies of molecular racialization
Whose Body Is It? Technolegal Materialization of Victims' Bodies and Remains after the World Trade Center Terrorist Attacks
Bearly Recognizable
The (De)materialization of Criminal Bodies in Forensic DNA Phenotyping
Identifying dead migrants
Science in action
Truth Machine
Silent Witness, Articulate Collective
The Sociology of an Actor-Network
Social Studies of Science
Laboratory Life
Race and genetics
Contested Identities
Witnessing Identification
The externalized retina
How to Kill with a Ballpoint
Technologies of Population
Making PCR
The Manufacture of Knowledge
Science at the Bar
Contrasts and Comparisons
| Unique citing works | 8 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0,8 |
| Citation span | 2016 - 2024 (9) |
| Citation velocity | recent |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 8 |