Abstract

MACHADO, Helena. Constructors of bio(in)security in the DNA profiles database. Etnográfica [online]. 2011, vol.15, n.1, pp.159-166. ISSN 0873-6561.

This paper analyses the discourses produced by experts and politicians about the creation of a DNA database for civil identification and criminal investigation purposes in Portugal, aiming to explore some stances in the construction of biosecurity. Three main types of arguments are found: science as the support of a simultaneously more effective and reliable justice; the need to follow the course of more developed countries in terms of criminal investigation and trans-border cooperation; the contribution towards the common good. This concerns an increasingly global technical-genetic and biopolitical project, merged within collective imageries built upon on fears of crime and criminals, which is more grounded on promises of imagined utility and efficacy in the identification of offenders than on the invocation of the risks and uncertainties.

Keywords : databases; DNA profiles; biosecurity; risks.

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