Ralf Arwin, Zieger Martin, Kayser Manfred
Department of Genetic Identification, Erasmus MC University Medical Center Rotterdam, Rotterdam 3015 GD, the Netherlands.
Institute of Forensic Medicine, University of Bern, Bern 3008, Switzerland.
J Law Biosci. 2024 Sep 4;11(2):lsae017. doi: 10.1093/jlb/lsae017. eCollection 2024 Jul-Dec.
Although national criminal offender DNA databases (NCODDs) including autosomal short tandem repeats (STRs) have been a successful tool to identify criminals for decades in many countries, yet there are many criminal cases they cannot solve. In cases with mixed male-female samples, particularly sexual assault, expanding NCODDs with Y-chromosomal STR (Y-STR) profiles allows database matching in the absence of autosomal STR profiles. Although Y-STR matches are not individual-specific, this can be largely overcome with rapidly mutating Y-STRs (RM Y-STR) allowing separation of paternally related men. Expanding NCODDs with Y-STR profiles is also beneficial for law enforcement in cases without known suspects via familial searching. Expanding NCODDs with Y-STR profiles may raise concerns about genetic privacy and fundamental human rights. A legal analysis of the European Convention on Human Rights revealed that when primarily for reidentifying convicted sex offenders, it would be in line with the case law of the European Court of Human Rights, while a generalized approach primarily for familial searching and involving all types of offenders may not. This paper aims to stimulate a debate among various stakeholders regarding the benefits and risks of expanding NCODDs with Y-STR profiles that in some countries has already been practically implemented.
尽管包括常染色体短串联重复序列（STR）在内的国家刑事罪犯DNA数据库（NCODD）在许多国家数十年来一直是识别罪犯的成功工具，但仍有许多刑事案件无法通过它们侦破。在男女混合样本的案件中，尤其是性侵犯案件，通过添加Y染色体STR（Y-STR）图谱来扩展NCODD，可在缺乏常染色体STR图谱的情况下进行数据库比对。尽管Y-STR匹配并非个体特异性的，但这在很大程度上可以通过快速突变的Y-STR（RM Y-STR）来克服，从而区分父系相关的男性。通过添加Y-STR图谱来扩展NCODD，对于在没有已知嫌疑人的案件中进行家族搜索的执法工作也有益处。通过添加Y-STR图谱来扩展NCODD可能会引发对基因隐私和基本人权的担忧。对《欧洲人权公约》的法律分析表明，当主要用于重新识别已定罪的性犯罪者时，这将符合欧洲人权法院的判例法，而主要用于家族搜索且涉及所有类型犯罪者的普遍方法可能并非如此。本文旨在激发各利益相关方就一些国家已经实际实施的通过添加Y-STR图谱来扩展NCODD的利弊展开辩论。
