DownloadThe Portobello Bookshop Gift Guide 2024

Truth Machine

The Contentious History of DNA Fingerprinting

Kathleen Jordan author Michael E Lynch author Ruth McNally author Simon A Cole author

Format:Hardback

Publisher:The University of Chicago Press

Published:20th Jan '09

Currently unavailable, and unfortunately no date known when it will be back

Truth Machine cover

DNA profiling - commonly known as DNA fingerprinting - is often heralded as unassailable criminal evidence, a veritable "truth machine" that can overturn convictions based on eyewitness testimony, confessions, and other forms of forensic evidence. But DNA evidence is far from infallible. "Truth Machine" traces the controversial history of DNA fingerprinting by looking at court cases in the United States and United Kingdom beginning in the mid-1980s, when the practice was invented, and continuing until the present. Ultimately, "Truth Machine" presents compelling evidence of the obstacles and opportunities at the intersection of science, technology, sociology, and law.

"I could not put it down. This is a must-read for anyone interested in the history of science." (Times Higher Education) "An interesting read.... It illustrates that the controversy of DNA profiling is rooted not in the science, but mainly in the restrictions of the adversarial system." (Nature)"

ISBN: 9780226498065

Dimensions: 24mm x 16mm x 3mm

Weight: 709g

416 pages