Genetics, criminal justice, and the minority community: An introduction for professionals in criminal justice. A report on the third annual convocation of the Justice George Lewis Ruffin Society

摘要

The Justice George Lewis Ruffin Society is an organization founded in 1984 to support minority professionals in the Massachusetts criminal justice system. The Society began the sponsorship of statewide Convocations in 1992. These events provide minority criminal justice professionals with the opportunity to focus on pertinent topics through expert presentations, panel discussions, and peer interactions. Because of its increasing importance in the criminal justice process at large, and growing significance to the minority community in particular, the committee determined that the 1994 Convocation would focus on DNA. A decision was made to concentrate both on the science and the ethical and moral considerations pertinent to its application. The committee determined that along with expert presentations, a large portion of each day's program should be devoted to workshops, designed to provide participants with an opportunity to review, test and discuss the material in a small group environment. Overall objectives of the Convocation were to provide minority and non-minority criminal justice professionals with a basic foundation in the science of genetics as well as current developments in genetic diagnostic technology, to highlight the actual and potential application of DNA technology to the criminal justice system and elsewhere, and to underscore the implications of these developments for criminal justice policy and the law.