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Mailing List Logs for ShadowRN

Message no. 1
From: Matt Wilshin M.Wilshin@******.ac.uk
Subject: cloning and crime
Date: Mon, 31 May 1999 23:36:50 +0100
At the moment in Britain there's an advert in which 5 clones commit the
same crime in 5 different cities, this made me wonder:

If, in Shadowrun, cloning humans is possible (and carried out), and a
couple of clones committed crimes at the same time in different places
and were caught, would the authorities be able to get the clones
convicted? After all, their DNA would be the same (I guess), and they
can't be forced to tell the truth by magical means under UCAS law, so if
they kept silent they couldn't incriminate each other and there would a
reasonable doubt that a specific clone committed the crime in question.

Comments anyone?

--
--------------------------------------------------------
Matt Wilshin
http://members.xoom.com/wilshin/
University of Exeter
***NEW. Telephone no: 01392 675291 ***
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Message no. 2
From: dghost@****.com dghost@****.com
Subject: cloning and crime
Date: Mon, 31 May 1999 19:31:10 -0500
On Mon, 31 May 1999 23:36:50 +0100 Matt Wilshin <M.Wilshin@******.ac.uk>
writes:
>At the moment in Britain there's an advert in which 5 clones commit the
>same crime in 5 different cities, this made me wonder:
>
>If, in Shadowrun, cloning humans is possible (and carried out), and a
>couple of clones committed crimes at the same time in different places
>and were caught, would the authorities be able to get the clones
>convicted? After all, their DNA would be the same (I guess), and they
>can't be forced to tell the truth by magical means under UCAS law, so if
>they kept silent they couldn't incriminate each other and there would a
>reasonable doubt that a specific clone committed the crime in
>question.
>
>Comments anyone?

AFAIK, the fingerprints (and possibly other ID methods, ie, scars) would
still be different.

--
D. Ghost
(aka Pixel)
"Hello, my name is Stephen. This is Dick. He'll see if he has something
your size." -- Jug Ears

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Message no. 3
From: Damon Harper nomad74@*******.com
Subject: cloning and crime
Date: Tue, 01 Jun 1999 00:04:33 PDT
>If, in Shadowrun, cloning humans is possible (and carried out), and a
>couple of clones committed crimes at the same time in different places
>and were caught, would the authorities be able to get the clones
>convicted? After all, their DNA would be the same (I guess), and they
>can't be forced to tell the truth by magical means under UCAS law, so if
>they kept silent they couldn't incriminate each other and there would a
>reasonable doubt that a specific clone committed the crime in question.
>
>Comments anyone?

Like any case, it would depend on the evidence. If all the Prosocuting
attourney had was the DNA, then the clone(s) in question would probably, in
all likelihood, not get convicted. However, if there was other
incriminating evidence, such as fiber samples from the victim or the
victim's house on the offender (or vice versa), or tissue samples of the
victim found on the offender, then the DNA could be used against the
defendant in court. If anything, the DNA would narrow a suspect list to 6
people, hypothetically speaking, and may even help in finding the actual
offender.
Of course, all of this is based on my experience with the modern laws of
the US. In the Megacorp world of Shadowrun, we all know the Corps make up
their own rules.

-Damon Harper
"I was recently on a tour of Latin America, and the only
regret I have was that I didn't study Latin harder in
school so I could converse with those people."
-J. Danforth Quayle
________________________________________________________
<nomad74@*******.com> <ICQ 4297972>




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Message no. 4
From: Graht Graht@**********.worldnet.att.net
Subject: cloning and crime
Date: Tue, 01 Jun 1999 18:52:38 -0500
Matt Wilshin wrote:
/At the moment in Britain there's an advert in which 5 clones commit the
/same crime in 5 different cities, this made me wonder:
/
/If, in Shadowrun, cloning humans is possible (and carried out), and a
/couple of clones committed crimes at the same time in different places
/and were caught, would the authorities be able to get the clones
/convicted? After all, their DNA would be the same (I guess), and they
/can't be forced to tell the truth by magical means under UCAS law, so if
/they kept silent they couldn't incriminate each other and there would a
/reasonable doubt that a specific clone committed the crime in question.
/
/Comments anyone?

Gotta change the premise.

Two (or more) clones. One commits murder and leaves DNA evidence. Who did it?

The DNA evidence isn't reliable of course and can't be used.

However, there's still blood work which can be used to identify which clone ate
what and where, and breath analyzation and a little mucus can tell you what air
they've been breathing. It's also very hard to clean evidence (dirt and grime)
from yourself. I'm guessing that SR205x chemical analyzers would be able to
discriminate which clone was at or near the crime scene fairly easily.

-Graht
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