ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the views of European-based non-governmental organizations (NGO) representatives concerned and critically engaged with the development of forensic DNA databases and the application of innovative and controversial genetic technologies in the criminal justice system. Within a framework where genetic surveillance is consistently expanding, it is of upmost importance to understand how NGOs’ self-definition of their goals and functions relates to meanings, values, and power structures of forensic DNA databases and innovative forensic genetic technologies. The main goals of NGOs are concerned with a critique of how genetic surveillance’s expansion promotes a rebalance power which threatens the rights of the biological citizen. Other goals focus on informing the public about science and technology innovations and promoting the adoption of a responsible approach to genetic data. Europe, however, presents a highly differentiated landscape in terms of NGO presence and visibility, highly influenced by the broader historical, social political and economic principles embedded in each country’s specific contexts and infrastructures. This implies that NGOs’ visibility and range of action is highly contingent on each country’s specific traditions, namely in terms of transparency and accountability policies while, at the same time, they carve out spaces of public visibility and legitimate vindication.
