FIGG at 5: An update on U.S. public perspectives on forensic investigative genetic genealogy five years after its introduction to criminal investigations.
Christi J Guerrini, Jill O Robinson, Mohamed I Elsaid, Whitney Bash Brooks, Ariel Levchenko, Stephanie M Fullerton, Sara Huston, Norah L Crossnohere, John F P Bridges, Jacklyn M Dahlquist, Louiza Kalokairinou, Diana Madden, CeCe Moore, Amy L McGuire
Author Information
Christi J Guerrini: Center for Medical Ethics and Health Policy, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX, USA. Electronic address: guerrini@bcm.edu.
Jill O Robinson: Center for Medical Ethics and Health Policy, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX, USA.
Mohamed I Elsaid: Department of Biomedical Informatics, College of Medicine, The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center, Columbus, OH, USA; Center for Biostatistics, College of Medicine, The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center, Columbus, OH, USA; Division of Medical Oncology, College of Medicine, The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center, Columbus, OH, USA.
Whitney Bash Brooks: Center for Medical Ethics and Health Policy, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX, USA.
Ariel Levchenko: Center for Medical Ethics and Health Policy, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX, USA.
Stephanie M Fullerton: Department of Bioethics and Humanities, University of Washington School of Medicine, Seattle, WA, USA.
Sara Huston: Mary Ann & J. Milburn Smith Child Health Outcomes, Research, and Evaluation Center, Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA; Department of Pediatrics, Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University, Chicago, IL, USA.
Norah L Crossnohere: Department of Internal Medicine, College of Medicine, The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center, Columbus, OH, USA.
John F P Bridges: Department of Biomedical Informatics, College of Medicine, The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center, Columbus, OH, USA.
Jacklyn M Dahlquist: Department of Bioethics and Humanities, University of Washington School of Medicine, Seattle, WA, USA.
Louiza Kalokairinou: Center for Medical Ethics and Health Policy, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX, USA.
Diana Madden: Mary Ann & J. Milburn Smith Child Health Outcomes, Research, and Evaluation Center, Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA.
CeCe Moore: Parabon NanoLabs, Reston, VA, USA.
Amy L McGuire: Center for Medical Ethics and Health Policy, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX, USA.
In 2018, after law enforcement announced it had used a technique called forensic investigative genetic genealogy (FIGG) to identify the Golden State Killer, we conducted a U.S. general population survey and found most respondents supported using FIGG to solve violent crimes. Since then, FIGG has helped close hundreds of criminal cases, but it also has weathered controversies. On FIGG's fifth anniversary, we conducted an expanded, follow-up survey with U.S.-based participants to determine if public opinion had changed and found continued support for FIGG across most applications. The same proportion (91���%) of respondents in the 2018 and 2023 surveys endorsed using FIGG in genetic genealogy databases to help identify perpetrators of violent crimes. Similar to the 2018 survey, only 57���% of respondents supported FIGG to help identify perpetrators of non-violent crimes. The results indicate that U.S. policies that have been adopted for FIGG are generally consistent with the opinions of our survey respondents over time. Nonetheless, there are opportunities to strengthen FIGG governance with the goal of maintaining public trust in the technique.
