Abstract
Medium- and long-range familial/kinship testing is demonstrating its potential to assist identification of unknown deceased persons when standard DNA identification techniques fail. Up until now, unidentified and missing persons casework has benefited from the use of well-established short-range familial/kinship testing techniques; however, law enforcement (LE) agencies and forensic DNA laboratories have begun to leverage new forensic genomics tools to extend kinship testing. Forensic investigative genetic genealogy (FIGG) is a form of long-range familial/kinship testing that has become increasingly popular in recent years. There are, however, considerations that need to be addressed before this technique can be routinely applied to the large numbers of unresolved identification cases. The majority of forensic DNA laboratories are unable to meet the specific technological and data analytical requirements for high-density single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) genotyping. As a result, several private laboratories now provide FIGG services to LE agencies, including SNP genotyping and genealogical research. The development of bespoke targeted amplicon sequencing panels for conducting medium-range familial/kinship testing now presents forensic DNA laboratories with the capacity and capability to perform this testing in-house. Outside of the laboratory, governance frameworks will need to reflect the goals of human remains identification and missing persons investigations, while addressing privacy impacts associated with the handling of personal and genetic information by LE agencies.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
