Consensus too soon: judges’ and lawyers’ views on genetic information use

Abstract

Timely effective regulation of genetic advances presents a challenge for justice systems. We used a 51-item battery to examine views on major genetics-related issues of those at the forefront of regulating this area – Supreme Court judges (N = 73). We also compared their views with those of other justice stakeholders (N = 210) from the same country (Romania). Judges showed greater endorsement and less variability in views on the use of genetic data and technologies than the other groups. The agreement among the judges was strikingly strong for some controversial issues, including gene editing; patenting of genetic findings; and the State using genetic information for crime prevention. Judges and other lawyers recognized the need for amending the relevant laws. Without appropriate regulation, genetic science has a risk of propelling inequality rather than fulfilling its promise to improve people’s lives.

Keywords

• judges’ opinions
• lawyers’ opinions
• genomic era laws
• genetic data misuse
• genetic discrimination
• gene editing
• gene-base crime prevention