How reliable is DNA in identifying suspects?


	How reliable is DNA in identifying suspects?

Kelika

7-20-2008 1:35 PM

185 views

Kelika says:

The article also covers the extreme efforts the FBI used to halt further database searches.

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<div style="margin: 12px 0px; font-family: arial; color: #333333; background: #ffffff; border: solid 4px #e5e5e5; width: 100%; clear: left;"><div class="CM_CTB_Content_Wrap" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;background-color: #ffffff;"><div style="border-bottom: solid 1px #dcdcdc; white-space: nowrap; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: #eeeeee ;background-image: url(http://www.clipmarks.com/images/source-bg.gif); background-repeat: repeat-x; height: 24px; line-height: 24px; vertical-align: middle; padding-bottom: 4px; color: #666666; font-size: 10px;" ><a href="http://clipmarks.com/clip-to-blog/" title="see clips that are hot right now"><img src="http://content.clipmarks.com/blog_embed/47a49b57-f4d8-4a57-93a5-24c9f5834f7a/FB316691-EE1A-4931-A226-FA75CD7691A2/" alt="" width="19" height="19" border="0" style="vertical-align: middle; margin: 0px 4px; display: inline; border: none; float:none;" /></a>clipped from <a title="http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-dna20-2008jul20,0,5133446.story" href="http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-dna20-2008jul20,0,5133446.story" style="font-size: 11px;">www.latimes.com</a></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-dna20-2008jul20,0,5133446.story"><DIV>
State crime lab analyst Kathryn Troyer was running tests on Arizona's DNA database when she stumbled across two felons with remarkably similar genetic profiles.</DIV></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-dna20-2008jul20,0,5133446.story"><DIV>
The men matched at nine of the 13 locations on chromosomes, or loci, commonly used to distinguish people.</DIV></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-dna20-2008jul20,0,5133446.story"><DIV class="box_striped clearfix" id="article_related">
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					What is the chance of finding a match?</A></H2></DIV>
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					From DNA to a DNA profile</A></H2></DIV>
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		<li style="margin-left:16px;padding-left: 0px;"><H2><A target="" href="http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-dna4-2008may04,0,6367136.story" linkindex="100">DNA matches aren't always a lock</A></H2></LI>
<li style="margin-left:16px;padding-left: 0px;"><H2><A target="" href="http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-dnamatch-sg,0,3806911.storygallery" linkindex="101">DNA: A Slam Dunk?</A></H2></LI></UL>		
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	</DIV></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-dna20-2008jul20,0,5133446.story"><DIV>
The FBI estimated the odds of unrelated people sharing those genetic markers to be as remote as 1 in 113 billion. But the mug shots of the two felons suggested that they were not related: One was black, the other white.</DIV></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-dna20-2008jul20,0,5133446.story"><DIV>
No one knows precisely how rare DNA profiles are. The odds presented in court are the FBI's best estimates.</DIV></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-dna20-2008jul20,0,5133446.story"><DIV>
The Arizona search was, in effect, the first test of those estimates in a large state database, and the results were surprising, even to some experts.</DIV></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-dna20-2008jul20,0,5133446.story"><DIV>
 Now, lawyers around the country are asking for searches of their own state databases.</DIV></blockquote></div><div style="margin: 0px 6px 6px 4px;"><table style="font-size: 11px;border-spacing: 0px;padding: 0px;" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%"><tr><td style="background:transparent;border-width:0px;padding:0px;">&nbsp;</td><td align="right" style="background:transparent;border-width:0px;padding:0px;width:107px" width="107"><a href="http://clipmarks.com/share/FB316691-EE1A-4931-A226-FA75CD7691A2/blog/" title="blog or email this clip"><img src="http://content6.clipmarks.com/images/c2b-foot.png" border="0" alt="blog it" width="107" height="17" style="border-width:0px;padding:0px;margin:0px;" /></a></td></tr></table></div></div>

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