Whose DNA is it anyway? European court, junk DNA, and the problem with prediction.

In this article, we discuss the implications of a recent European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) decision about the use of retained DNA profiles in criminal cases. Met with polar but equal passion from both the privacy lobby and law enforcement, this case has opened concerns regarding ethics in the nascent science of DNA profiling. Although the technology is touted as the most exciting breakthrough since fingerprinting in crime solving, there are questions regarding its use.

Violence and gun crime.

Protecting children and reducing social exclusion are the priorities

Too young to kill? U.S. Supreme Court treads a dangerous path in Roper v. Simmons.

The death penalty remains an intensely divisive topic in American society. Recently, there has been a series of cases, first involving defendants with mental retardation and more recently involving juveniles, in which the U.S.

Justice and welfare: two ethical paradigms in forensic psychiatry.

Forensic psychiatry, as a medical specialty, perhaps understandably leans toward beneficence or welfare as its main ethical underpinning. However, the special nature of the art or science of forensic psychiatry makes it imperative that beneficence is not the only ethical principle that guides the 'good' forensic psychiatrist. Indeed, the commonest ethical dilemmas in forensic psychiatry arise from a conflict between two ethical principles: beneficence, or promotion of welfare, and respect for justice.