2020 Azbee Awards of Excellence

Category

All Content > Technical Article > Upper Midwest

Awarded to

Jason Tashea, Legal Affairs Writer; Blair Chavis, Assistant Managing Editor; Brenan Sharp, Design Director

Entry details

Genealogy sites give law enforcement a new DNA sleuthing tool, but the battle over privacy looms

Issue or publication date: Nov. 1, 2019
Publication name: ABA Journal
Publishing company: ABA Journal
Website home page: abajournal.com

Please describe the publication's mission and readership:

The ABA Journal is the flagship magazine for the American Bar Association and signature publication for the legal profession. The Journal is an award-winning, dynamic multimedia platform delivering legal journalism with an independent voice. The Journal informs, engages and stimulates important conversations that define the American legal system and help it respond to important issues of the day. The Journal and its companion website, newsletters and podcasts ensure it has among the largest readership of any legal publication in the world. While the Journal serves as a key benefit to members of the American Bar Association, it maintains editorial independence and integrity, allowing it to provide critical coverage of the trends, people and business of the legal profession from Wall Street to Main Street to Pennsylvania Avenue.

Please describe the enterprising work that went into this entry and its significance or impact on readers:

Exploring one’s ancestry is an American pastime. But the unprecedented DNA data pool created by private genealogy websites provides a new opportunity to crowdsource leads in criminal investigations. This data has led to both an exoneration and a conviction this past summer — among dozens of other ongoing investigations and trials — and it is a technology and approach now in prime time. While law enforcement and the public largely welcome the new wave of forensic genealogy, others worry that privacy rights are being eroded by an investigative approach with little regulatory oversight.

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Entry URL(s), if applicable:
http://www.abajournal.com/magazine/article/family-tree-genealogy-sites-arm-law-enforcement-with-a-new-branch-of-dna-sleuthing-but-the-battle-over-privacy-looms

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