Passage Twelve
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Searching DNA records has become a common practice in criminal investigations. Researchers now suggest this could be taken a step further by looking for close DNA matches that might lead police to a criminal through a relative.They note that 46 percent of jail inmates have at least one relative who also has been in prison.
But the idea also raises questions of privacy and other ethical and legal concerns.Researchers led by Frederick R. Bieber of Harvard Medical School estimate that in a case in which there is a 10 percent chance of finding a criminal through a DNA search, expanding the search to suspects' near relatives could raise the chances to 14 percent.
That could represent an increase of thousands of identifications in the United States, where there have been 30,000 identifications through DNA searches, the researchers said in a paper in Thursday's online edition of the journal Science.
They cite the case of a murder in Britain in which the search of that country's DNA database found a 14-year-old boy was a near match to DNA collected as evidence. That led police to the boy's uncle, who confessed to the crime.
In a similar North Carolina case, a search of the state's offender DNA database led to a near but not perfect match. When police followed up, the brother of the individual located through DNA confessed, the researchers reported.
Concerns over privacy
But while there is potential for catching more criminals, the researchers stressed the need to address ethical issues.The use of familial searching effectively would place a new category of people under lifetime surveillance, they noted.
"Kinship analysis, as with any investigative technique, may lead to the investigation of the innocent," co-author David Lazer of Harvard University said in a statement. "But it would also provide decisive leads in cases that would otherwise go unsolved."Moses Schanfield, a professor of forensic science at George Washington University, said familial searching is a potentially useful tool, but added that he would expect only a small increase in the number of "hits," referring to finding people in a database.
1.What is the main idea of the first passage?
A. Prisoners have relatives in their jail.
B. Close DNA match could help find relatives of prisoners in jails
C. DNA was introduced to criminal investigations.
D. Jails in U.S. have been the targets of DNA searching.
2.What are the impacts of searching near relatives’ DNA?
1 It may raise the chance of locating the criminals.
2. It may lead to wrongly capture of innocent people.
3. It may perfectly help crack criminal cases.
A. 1 and 2 B. 2and
3.Which of the following statements about DNA searching of a suspect’ relatives is TRUE?
A. It is practical
B. It is legal.
C. It disobeys the right of privacy.
D. It is the further step of criminal investigation through DNA analysis.
4.The author cited the case of a 14-year-old boy in order to show that _______.
A. It was a successful application that can be recommended in terms of DNA searching.
B. this was only one-side story by researchers at Harvard University Medical School
C. this case gave the support to researchers’ findings .
D. searching the DNA of a suspect’s relatives is legal.
5. What is author’s altitude in contributing this report?
A. Negative.
B. Objective
C. Indifferent
D. Showing much concern.
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