A comment on the Hill-Turney exchange: from normative antagonism to interdisciplinary collaboration

Abstract

A recent issue of 'New Genetics and Society' included an exchange between Hill (2011) and Turney (2011) discussing an earlier paper on the use of DNA identification in the Australian bushfires disaster of 2009 (Turney 2010). An editor's introduction to the exchange solicited further observations on the issues raised by the two participants (Glasner 2011). What follows is a response to that solicitation. It has been written jointly by individuals from a wide range of disciplinary backgrounds (including forensic genetics, forensic anthropology, sociology, bioethics, and science and technology studies) located within two research centers (the Northumbria University Centre for Forensic Science; the Policy, Ethics and Life Sciences Research Centre at Newcastle University).