Truth Machine

The Contentious History of DNA Fingerprinting

By: Michael E. Lynch, Simon A. Cole, Ruth McNally, Kathleen Jordan

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Hardcover | 12 January 2009 | Edition Number 1

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Hardcover
416 Pages

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2.35 x 1.59 x 0.31

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DNA profiling--commonly known as DNA fingerprinting--is often heralded as unassailable criminal evidence, a veritable "truth machine" that can overturn convictions based on eyewitness testimony, confessions, and other forms of forensic evidence. But DNA evidence is far from infallible. It is subject to the same possibilities for error--in sample collection, forensic analysis, and clerical record keeping--as any other aspect of criminal justice practice.
"Truth Machine" traces the controversial history of DNA fingerprinting by looking at court cases in the United States and United Kingdom beginning in the mid-1980s, when the practice was invented, and continuing until the present. Using interviews, observations of courtroom trials and laboratory processes, and documentary reconstruction, the authors provide a nuanced, theoretically sophisticated, and original ethnographic account of DNA fingerprinting and its evolution. Ultimately, "Truth Machine "presents compelling evidence of the obstacles and opportunities at the intersection of science, technology, sociology, and law.

Industry Reviews

"I could not put it down. This is a must-read for anyone interested in the history of science." (Times Higher Education) "An interesting read.... It illustrates that the controversy of DNA profiling is rooted not in the science, but mainly in the restrictions of the adversarial system." (Nature)"

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Preface	p. ix
Acknowledgments	p. xix
A Revolution in Forensic Science?	p. 1
DNA Profiling Techniques	p. 24
A Techno-Legal Controversy	p. 39
Admissibility, Controversy, and Judicial Metascience	p. 69
Molecular Biology and the Dispersion of Technique	p. 83
Chains of Custody and Administrative Objectivity	p. 113
The U.K. National DNA Database	p. 142
Deconstructing Probability in the Case R. v. Deen	p. 155
Bayesians, Frequentists, and the DNA Database Search Controversy	p. 183
Science, Common Sense, and DNA Evidence	p. 190
Fixing Controversy, Performing Closure	p. 220
Postclosure	p. 256
Fingerprinting and Probability	p. 293
Fingerprinting: An Inversion of Credibility	p. 302
Finality?	p. 335
Cases	p. 347
References	p. 349
Index	p. 379
Table of Contents provided by Ingram. All Rights Reserved.

Truth Machine

The Contentious History of DNA Fingerprinting

At a Glance

Hardcover

Industry Reviews

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How to return your order

Defective items

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