The introductory chapter offers a detailed description of the
themes that the reader can expect to find in this book, and a discussion of
the social and academic relevance of the role and use of forensic genetic
technologies in the criminal justice system. This introductory chapter provides
the key concepts for the discussion of how developments in the
application of forensic genetics can be understood as part of wider shifts in
how the governance of criminality is enacted and made visible through the
symbolic power invested in science and technology.