Protecting trust in medical genetics in the new era of forensics

We have recently witnessed two dramatic advances in the capabilities of forensic genetics. First, the use of public genealogy databases to identify criminals (as publicized by the Golden State Killer case), and secondly, the advancing science of trait prediction in forensic investigations. Just as the 1995 OJ Simpson murder trial brought the existence of DNA forensics (and some of its shortcomings) into the public consciousness,1 in our opinion, these two developments, 23 years later, mark the start of a new era in forensic genetics.