The guilty gene: imaginary of justice and genetics around the National Registry of Genetic Data in Argentina

Abstract

Genetic technology has increasingly diverse and widespread uses. However, there are very specific circumstances in which it becomes part of the topics of public debate. This happened in July 2013, in Argentina, with the creation of the National Registry of Genetic Data of Crimes against Sexual Integrity, better known as the “Registry of Rapists”. The process of approval of this law opened spaces for dialogue in which genetics emerged as a centerpiece of the discourse of various actors. This article focuses on the analysis of this case because it allows us to approach genetics as a signifier loaded with social meanings in constant transformation. It is based on a qualitative methodological strategy based on the analysis of public statements and interviews with actors participating in the debate around the approval of the regulation. We propose to reconstruct the imaginaries of genetics, rapist and justice that converged around the configuration of this law, while asking questions about the changes that the novel uses of genetics bring about on the conceptions of the body and security. It is concluded that around this law it is possible to find dialogues and intersections between major frameworks producing discourses, imaginaries and new dilemmas of contemporary societies.