Specific Ethical Question

I am a biotechnology major, and I am planning on attending graduate school for forensic science/criminology.  The ethical question that I am focusing on is this: Should "familial searching" of DNA databases, such as the CODIS (combined DNA index system) of the US, be utilized in DNA profiling by law enforcement and our criminal justice system?

Background information
Familial searching of DNA databases is "the process whereby a DNA profile obtained from a crime scene fails to match an existing profile...and a decision is then made to search the [national DNA database] to see if there is instead a close match with the crime scene profile." [1]

Arguments for the affirmative
Familial searching of the DNA database:

• Allows forensic analysts of law enforcement to identify suspects who are not in the DNA database. [1-3]
• May decrease the need to use DNA dragnet techniques (collecting DNA from a large group of individuals to search for the perpetrator of a crime), which have had only limited success in helping to solve crimes in the US. [2]
• Has the potential to increase greatly the number of criminal investigative leads produced by existing DNA databases. [4]

Arguments for the negative
Familial searching of the DNA database:

• Violates the privacy of the person in the national database
• Violates the privacy of possible relatives revealed by the search who would otherwise not be involved in police investigations
• Reinforces views about the alleged prevalence of criminality within certain families
• Reveals to relatives the presence of a family member in the national database
• Reveals a previously unknown genetic link between individuals
• Reveals an absence of a genetic link which individuals had thought existed [1]
• Would disproportionately incorporate minorities into the database [4]

My position on the issue

I believe that familial searching of DNA databases should only be utilized if all other investigatory techniques have been exhausted. As stated above, familial searching can be very valuable in identifying possible suspects when the suspect him/herself is not already in the system. However, it is a major violation of privacy to be incriminating the relatives of the possible suspect, essentially, by using familial searching. 

References

(1) Haimes, Erica. "Social and Ethical Issues in the Use of Familial Searching in Forensic Investigations: Insights from Family and Kinship Studies." Journal of Law, Medicine & Ethics. Summer (2006): 263-276. Print.

(2) Rothstein, Mark A. and Meghan K. Talbott. "The Expanding Use of DNA in Law Enforcement: What Role for Privacy?" Journal of Law, Medicine & Ethics. Summer (2006): 153-164. Print.

(3) Greely, Henry T., Riordan, Daniel P., Garrison, Nanibaa' A., and Joanna L. Mountain. Journal of Law, Medicine & Ethics. Summer (2006): 248-262. Print.

(4) Lazer, David. "Searching the Family Tree for Suspects: Ethical and Implementation Issues in the Familial Searching of DNA Databases. Taubman Center Policy Briefs. March 2008.