| The PhD-research project will give an ethnographic account of sociomaterial practices of forensic DNA in the Netherlands by examining four case studies. Every case study concerns a criminal investigation like murder, rape or burglary. In such a case study, practices of law, juridical, and science converge. Also, the study will take actors like protocols, criminal investigation, consensus & controversy, the work of analysts, jurists & detectives, procedures of approaching/examining suspects, victims & bodies, genetic techniques & markers, crime & punishment into account. By means of a case study, details that contribute to either a DNA profile, evidence, judgement, bodies etc. will be highlighted. A case study puts forensic DNA in action to the foreground. The cases that will be described are part of a Dutch history of forensic DNA. Hence it can be determined what cases were important to the Dutch context, for instance cases that led to jurisprudence or new legislation. These cases can be seen as so called mile stone cases , as they shed light on the organization of practices of forensic DNA in a certain period. A mile stone case is a vehicle to describe interaction between various practices, and to explore legal (and technical) thresholds. Issued laws are the hinges between the four selected case studies. In each case study, three themes will be explored: (1) the organization of practices of forensic DNA, (2) how practices of forensic DNA are related to the collecting of body tissue, and (3) how and which legal principles are re-defined as a result of practices of forensic DNA. |
