Forensic genetics and their technolegal worlds

In this introductory chapter to the volume, we chart the complex relationships between forensic genetics technologies, the law and society, reflecting on what in this book we call the ‘technolegal worlds’ of this technoscience. The neologism technolegal invites authors and readers to attend to the materialities of forensic discourses and practices; it moves beyond a sole focus on forensic technology and investigation as technical practice to consider the wider norms, values, interests, legitimacy and resolutions that co-constitute the political economies of forensic technoscience. This volume sets the technolegal in conversation with worlds. The notion of worlds refers to various issues the chapters in this book aim to capture. The first and most apparent is that of geography and scale, that of global science and local technolegal rules. But the notion of ‘world’ has further connotations. Worlds are inhabited by subjects and objects who (re)produce them. Consequently, worlds are emergent, and the processes of (re)production can be conceptualised as the descriptor worlding. The focus on worlds and worlding is an invitation to be attentive to the specific, contextual politics and normativities of forensic sciences – the good, the bad and the nuanced. This applies to the various jurisdictions discussed in the volume, to emerging technologies in criminal investigation and to the many issues in the context of legitimacy, including social acceptability.