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Seattle police use family DNA, latest science to identify killer 52 years later

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Re: Seattle police use family DNA, latest science to identify killer 52 years later

#32
post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When you take a life you forfeit any more rights you have, if there’s probable cause and a warrant and it can bring closure to the victims then it’s 100% acceptable.

> When you take a life you forfeit any more rights you have When you're convicted of it. Not before. > bring closure This seems to be a very recent thing. First off, I don't think the justice system is meant to "bring closure" to the victims, whatever that means. And secondly, if someone close to me was murdered, I seriously doubt that "closure" would make me feel any better about it.

It's also veering very close to vengeance.

And if that's what the people want, then, what the hell, let's bring back hangings in the town square, so they can get the satisfaction of seeing the murderer swing after trial, and cut out the 20-50 years of keeping them in prison.

Re: Seattle police use family DNA, latest science to identify killer 52 years later

#33
post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How well were the participants informed about how warrants would be used to access their information?

The state has decided that you don't need to be informed in advance that a warrant will let them search through your things. The whole point of a warrant is that it lets them search. "I didn't know they could look inside my bag" isn't a legal defense.

You're talking about malum prohibitum and I'm talking about malum in se.

Re: Seattle police use family DNA, latest science to identify killer 52 years later

#34

Voluntarily shared third party info isn't private (at least under the law). This may actually end up being a good thing long term for healthcare.

A decade or two (probably less) and health insurance will plug your details into some shared DNA database and automatically disqualify you because your genetics predispose you to a laundry list of conditions, not worth the risk. Or, we will cover you but not for these genetic disorders as they are considered "preexisting conditions".

Re: Seattle police use family DNA, latest science to identify killer 52 years later

#35
> She was able to match a palm print recovered from the elevator control panel, and lifted during initial crime scene processing, to those taken from Wypych in 1971 when he was arrested for larceny, SPD said.

So, why didn't they attempt this kind of matching in the first place? Much easier than DNA.

Re: Seattle police use family DNA, latest science to identify killer 52 years later

#36

Voluntarily shared third party info isn't private (at least under the law). This may actually end up being a good thing long term for healthcare.

A decade or two (probably less) and health insurance will plug your details into some shared DNA database and automatically disqualify you because your genetics predispose you to a laundry list of conditions, not worth the risk. Or, we will cover you but not for these genetic disorders as they are considered "preexisting conditions".

I have a congenital heart defect; If the doctor didn't find it, wouldn't that more likely fall on them? Plus if you know it from birth, isn't just a higher premium (I suppose it could be too high)?

Re: Seattle police use family DNA, latest science to identify killer 52 years later

#37

Voluntarily shared third party info isn't private (at least under the law). This may actually end up being a good thing long term for healthcare.

A decade or two (probably less) and health insurance will plug your details into some shared DNA database and automatically disqualify you because your genetics predispose you to a laundry list of conditions, not worth the risk. Or, we will cover you but not for these genetic disorders as they are considered "preexisting conditions".

Affordable Care Act does not allow for discrimination based on pre existing conditions in the US.

Re: Seattle police use family DNA, latest science to identify killer 52 years later

#38
post #35

> She was able to match a palm print recovered from the elevator control panel, and lifted during initial crime scene processing, to those taken from Wypych in 1971 when he was arrested for larceny, SPD said. So, why didn't they attempt this kind of matching in the first place? Much easier than DNA.

> why didn't they attempt this kind of matching in the first place?

There is no palm print database.

Re: Seattle police use family DNA, latest science to identify killer 52 years later

#39
post #4

I find it disconcerting that someone's remains would be violated due to being a murder suspect. This is one of many reasons to have your remains cremated, I suppose. It also avoids wasting space in a graveyard and whatnot. I'm beginning to seriously hear people discuss that it's perfectly okay to use DNA people submit in these ways and even that it would be okay for the government to collect trash and other things th…

If you’re dead, what do you care what happens to your remains? I see no problem with exhuming a corpse to solve a murder case as long as there’s probable cause and a warrant, which there was here.

Necrophilia, ok, not ok, dodge the question? If you kill someone does eating their heart afterwards mark you out as worse than the average killer? If not, why not?

Re: Seattle police use family DNA, latest science to identify killer 52 years later

#40
post #35

> She was able to match a palm print recovered from the elevator control panel, and lifted during initial crime scene processing, to those taken from Wypych in 1971 when he was arrested for larceny, SPD said. So, why didn't they attempt this kind of matching in the first place? Much easier than DNA.

Is it really easier, though? I don't know if there's a palm print database (like I think there is for fingerprints), and even if there were, there's no guarantee the murderer would be in it. So pursuing this would involve opening up a lot of old physical records, looking at a complex whirling pattern and trying to see if there's anywhere in it that lines up with the print found at the crime scene. Not feasible at scale. I don't know if palm prints even have an easy classification system like fingerprints do (loop, whorl, etc) to help organize a search. So this really only works if you already have a name and are trying to confirm it.

Also, it's not like palm prints follow mathematical heredity patterns. DNA worked here because they didn't need a hit on the guy, just somebody, distantly related to him. Much lower bar for success. Any they didn't even have to spend time and money building a searchable database and populating it with samples. It was handed to them on a silver platter.

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