Police DNA management: forensic genetic technologies in Brazil

Abstract

This research project proposes an investigation regarding the current expansion of Forensic Genetics in Brazil. The main objective of the research is to identify and analyze the political configurations and scientific foundations of the Integrated Network of Genetic Profile Banks (RIBPG/MJSP), considered here as the main political technology of genetic profiling for purposes of criminal investigation in the country. The research will be developed based on three organizing axes: a) the epistemological analysis of the knowledges and rationalities that underlie the forensic technologies of genetic profiling in Brazil; b) the identification of the legal-political-scientific complex that constitutes the Integrated Network of Genetic Profile Banks; and c) the monitoring of police and laboratory practices for the registration and analysis of DNA samples. As a line of interest across the three axes, it is intended to identify the links between forensic technologies of genetic analysis and the racial and phenotypic selectivity that characterizes the institutions dedicated to the crime control in Brazil. For this, the investigation will be based on bibliographic research regarding the knowledges mobilized in the genetic identification of offenders; analysis of the RIBPG's legal and regulatory frameworks; and ethnographic observation of the procedures for collection, storage and examination of genetic material, with particular attention to the ways of obtaining and treating race data. The general scope of the project lies in understanding the social, political and epistemological dimensions of police administration of genetic content. (AU)