Randle, Aaron. “Why the N.Y.P.D.'s DNA Database Has Some People Worried.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 16 Aug. 2019, www.nytimes.com/2019/08/16/nyregion/newyorktoday/nypd-dna-database.html?rref=collection%2Ftimestopic%2FForensic%2BScience&action=click&contentCollection=timestopics®ion=stream&module=stream_unit&version=latest&contentPlacement=5&pgtype=collection.
The New York Times article by Aaron Randall that I selected for my Forensics current event, discusses the New York Police Department‘s DNA database and how it’s expansion has been controversial among New York residents. And example of this expansion of the database is that it’s overall size increased by 29% in the last two years, to a whopping 82,473 genetic profiles. The article talks about the primary concerns experience with in the community as a result of this data bases expansion. The primary concern stop by the community or privacy and trust. For example, a majority of the profiles in the database were derived from children and suspects who were suspected but not convicted of crimes, raising potential moral quarrels about whether they should be in a legal database or not. Furthermore, one cannot ignore the history of racism and discrimination within many police departments in the United States and the resulting lack of willingness among minorities to put their Faith in institutions that have repeatedly failed them over the past years. The article also talks about how the police have been responding to this civilian criticism. The main argument offered up by police is that their DNA collection has not been indiscriminate, and has in fact been a key contributor to the decrease in crime New York has experienced over the past few decades.
The relevance of this current event can simply not be overstated. The concerns raised by the civilian population of New York as a response to this DNA database expansion are completely legitimate. For example, it is extremely worried that this government agency is collecting bass amounts of genetic information on the population. Especially, on members of the population that I’ve never actually been found guilty of a crime. This creates a large risk of government potentially abusing this information and very authoritarian manners. Well there are many potential dystopian scenarios in which this can occur, one of the most easy to imagine is the utilization of such a database by government to act out discrimination or other bad actions. Another important consideration to be made on the contrary however, is that police need to be able to affectively do their jobs in the modern age. As a civilized society, we just have to except the fact that in order to continue to enjoy the high rate of criminal conviction within our justice system, we need to except their continued use an integration of new technologies in maintaining such a high rate of conviction. Thus, the use of DNA data is inevitable by police departments and we cannot be in denial about how much more successful it has made them at catching those who are responsible for crimes.
Wow this article was very well written, it was very poorly sourced and rather short. I feel that the author could’ve easily elaborated more and got into more detail about the exact concerns posed by the citizens of New York to the police department as a result of this DNA database expansion. Furthermore I think the author could’ve also taken a more decisive stance on the dispute between the civilian population and the police department. While opinion writing is not always valued in scientific forms, in a situation like this where there are two opposing sides to an argument, and authoritative argument in favor of one side can be very productive in facilitating and productive discourse.. 
2 comments:
Randle, Aaron. “Why the N.Y.P.D.'s DNA Database Has Some People Worried.” The New
York Times, The New York Times, 16 Aug. 2019,
www.nytimes.com/2019/08/16/nyregion/newyorktoday/nypd-dna-database.html?rref=c
ollection%2Ftimestopic%2FForensic%2BScience&action=click&contentCollection=timestopics®ion=stream&module=stream_unit&version=latest&contentPlacement=5&pgtype=collection.
Finn’s review of the article “Why the N.Y.P.D.'s DNA Database Has Some People Worried” had many positives to it. For one, I liked Finn’s use of statistics in the first part of his review. It really emphasized to readers the rate at which the N.Y.P.D’s database had grown at. Additionally, he was very persuasive in his views, as he used strong diction throughout his piece. Example of his persuasive language include “the relevance of this current event can simply not be overstated” or “abusing this information”. Finally, I liked how Finn connected the topic of an invasive database to issues within our society. Pointing out that the database may unfairly target under-represented or minority groups was an interesting and insightful view on his part.
One thing I believe Finn could work on is some of his grammar and spelling. Most mistakes were minor, like saying “worried” instead of “worrying” or “well” instead of “while”, and could be fixed with proofreading. In addition, he mentioned that the database could be used by the government in a manner that “act out discrimination or other bad actions.” Although true, Finn should’ve elaborated more on how these databases actually target or discriminate against certain groups. As this was a primary point in his piece, giving a few examples of how the databases actually affect minority groups could make his review more comprehensive overall.
Finn’s review was insightful on how our technology and access to information will inevitably become more advanced in the future. It will benefit us in many ways, and give us the ability to convict possible criminals more easily. However, it is quite frightening to think about the lack of security we might have on our personal information. It is our responsibility as a society to navigate how exactly to use this information positively instead of harmfully.
Finn does a really nice job summarising his article “Why the N.Y.P.D.'s DNA Database Has Some People Worried.” by Aaron randle. Not only does Finn summarize he clearly explains the importance of forensics in the context. For instance, “The main argument offered up by police is that their DNA collection has not been indiscriminate, and has in fact been a key contributor to the decrease in crime New York has experienced over the past few decades.” I chose this article because of the discussion of genetic profiling which I am interested in. The article explains the importance and the expansion. “And example of this expansion of the database is that it’s overall size increased by 29% in the last two years, to a whopping 82,473 genetic profiles.”
One thing that can improve upon is the explanation regarding the evidence of the population. For example, Finn makes some generalizations and states his opinion but does not explain it very well. Like, “For example, it is extremely worried that this government agency is collecting bass amounts of genetic information on the population. ” In addition, Finn could explain more about the effect this could have on society. All together, with the additions of some thought through explanations Finn could really improve this Current Event.
This article caught my eye because of DNA profiling and I am really happy that I chose to write about it. After reading this article I have learned about the effects of the DNA expansion in New York. This will change some perceptions for me because I live in new york.
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