In 2020, the Swedish Police solved a 16-year-old cold case using forensic genetic genealogy, a first for the country. Following the conviction, the Swedish Authority for Privacy Protection found that there was no legal basis for using investigative genetic genealogy. Earlier in 2023, the Danish and Swedish parliaments both voted on whether the police should have the power to use DNA from genealogy research as a tool to solve crimes. The Danish Parliament approved a citizen proposal that the Danish police have the right to use genetic genealogy as an investigation tool in certain serious crimes, whereas the Swedish Parliament voted down a similar proposal from the Parliamentary Committee on Justice.
Please join us on October 26, 2023, at 2 p.m. EDT for our next foreign, comparative, and international law webinar titled, “Nordic Noir: Genealogy as a Criminal Investigation Technique in Denmark and Sweden.” This webinar is the latest installment in the Law Library’s Foreign and Comparative Law Webinar Series.
This webinar will describe how genealogy research and family DNA searches have been used in Denmark and Sweden, the legislation supporting their use, and how the national laws relate to the European Union rules on the right of privacy and family life, the GDPR, and the two countries’ international human rights obligations.
To register for this webinar, please click here. Please request ADA accommodations at least five business days in advance by contacting (202) 707-6362 or [email protected].
The webinar will be presented by Elin Hofverberg, foreign law specialist in the Global Legal Research Directorate of the Law Library of Congress. Elin conducts research on Nordic domestic law, as well as comparative and international law, for the U.S. Congress, executive agencies, and the U.S. judiciary. Elin holds a Master of Laws in international and comparative law from The George Washington University Law School and a Juris Doctor equivalent (Jur. kand.) from Uppsala University. She is a member of the New York State Bar and qualified to practice law in Sweden.
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Comments (2)
Excited!
Interesting topic.