The genealogical identification work, by contrast, has been broadly characterized as more reliable when its process is followed correctly — meaning that a genealogical lead is treated as a lead requiring corroboration, not as a conclusion, and that independent DNA comparison provides the confirming evidence before any arrest is made.
The number of cases resolved through investigative genetic genealogy grew substantially through 2019 and 2020. A study published in 2020 estimated that several dozen cold case homicides had been resolved through the method in the two years since the Golden State Killer arrest. The number has continued to grow.
## The Ongoing Ethical Debate
The ethical debate about investigative genetic genealogy has not been resolved and is unlikely to be resolved by the success of the Golden State Killer case or any other individual case. The success of the method in producing identifications in serious crimes is real, and it is relevant to the debate. But success in producing identifications does not, by itself, settle the questions about consent and privacy.
The core ethical tension is between two values that are both legitimate: the value of using available tools to identify people responsible for violent crimes, and the value of protecting individuals’ genetic privacy and their control over how their biological information is used.
The argument for investigative genetic genealogy, stated at its strongest, is that violent crimes cause serious, irreversible harm to real people; that society has an interest in identifying and holding responsible those who commit such crimes; and that a method that uses genetic data to produce investigative leads — without directly implicating the database users whose data is used — is a proportionate tool in the service of a legitimate aim. The distant relatives whose profiles were searched in the Golden State Killer case were not harmed by the search, were not identified publicly, and were not made suspects. The result of using their data was the arrest of a man who had killed thirteen people.