More for the same? Enhancing the investigative potential of forensic DNA databases (REF 0415)

Pope, Sue; Clayton, Timothy; Whitaker, Jonathan; Lowe, John B.; Puch-Solis, Roberto

doi:10.1016/j.fsigss.2009.08.071

Cited by 8 publications

(8 citation statements)

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“…Because some of these groups (Native Americans and some immigrant groups) are correlated with social groups already over-represented in the criminal justice system, group members would be more likely to have a relative in the database, and that relative would be more likely to have a coincidental partial match with a crime scene sample [3]–[6], [9], [17], [18], [66]–[68]. Cumulatively, members of these groups are more likely to be investigated as a familial match due to over-represention in the database, and an unusually high false positive familial identification rate.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Familial Identification: Population Structure and Relationship Distinguishability

2012

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With the expansion of offender/arrestee DNA profile databases, genetic forensic identification has become commonplace in the United States criminal justice system. Implementation of familial searching has been proposed to extend forensic identification to family members of individuals with profiles in offender/arrestee DNA databases. In familial searching, a partial genetic profile match between a database entrant and a crime scene sample is used to implicate genetic relatives of the database entrant as potential sources of the crime scene sample. In addition to concerns regarding civil liberties, familial searching poses unanswered statistical questions. In this study, we define confidence intervals on estimated likelihood ratios for familial identification. Using these confidence intervals, we consider familial searching in a structured population. We show that relatives and unrelated individuals from population samples with lower gene diversity over the loci considered are less distinguishable. We also consider cases where the most appropriate population sample for individuals considered is unknown. We find that as a less appropriate population sample, and thus allele frequency distribution, is assumed, relatives and unrelated individuals become more difficult to distinguish. In addition, we show that relationship distinguishability increases with the number of markers considered, but decreases for more distant genetic familial relationships. All of these results indicate that caution is warranted in the application of familial searching in structured populations, such as in the United States.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Its use in the United States has been more limited due to concerns regarding civil liberty infringement, racial bias, and efficacy [3]–[6]. However, in July 2010, familial searching was used in a highly publicized California case to identify a suspect serial killer (the “Grim Sleeper”) [7]–[10].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Familial Identification: Population Structure and Relationship Distinguishability

2012

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“…The results (Table 1) were interpreted as mixed low template profiles and the suspect (Dlugosz) was identified by database trawl using a commercial computer program (DNABoost TM ) [24] that was originally developed by the now defunct Forensic Science Service. This adds a new dimension for debate since it automates the matching allele count method so that entire databases can be interrogated (ex-FSS staff personal communication).…”

Section: The Evidence In Regina V Dlugoszmentioning

confidence: 99%

Does an English appeal court ruling increase the risks of miscarriages of justice when complex DNA profiles are searched against the national DNA database?

Gill

Bleka

Egeland

2014

Forensic Science International: Genetics

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“…Sometimes, these are calculated only for profiles that are sufficiently similar to the profile of the unknown offender (see Pope et al . () for a description pertaining to the UK, or Kim et al . () for an overview of strategies in use in the USA).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…For example, a sibling index compares the likelihood of two DNA profiles under the hypotheses that these profiles belong to two siblings, or to two unrelated people. Sometimes, these are calculated only for profiles that are sufficiently similar to the profile of the unknown offender (see Pope et al (2009) for a description pertaining to the UK, or Kim et al (2011) for an overview of strategies in use in the USA). From a mathematical point of view, as we shall discuss below, there is no reason to do so, at least not in idealized conditions.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Probabilistic Strategies for Familial DNA Searching

Slooten

Meester²

2013

Journal of the Royal Statistical Society Series C: Applied Statistics

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Summary Familial searching is the process of searching in a deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) database for relatives of a certain individual. Typically, this individual is the source of a crime stain that can be reasonably attributed to the offender. If this crime stain has not given rise to a match in a DNA database, then in some jurisdictions a familial search may be carried out to attempt to identify a relative of the offender, thus giving investigators a lead. We discuss two methods to select a subset from the database that contains a relative (if present) with a probability that we can control. The first method is based on a derivation of the likelihood ratio for each database member in favour of being the relative, taking all DNA profiles in the database into account. This method needs prior probabilities and yields posterior probabilities. The second method is based on case‐specific false positive and false negative rates. We discuss the relationship between the approaches and assess the methods with familial searching carried out in the Dutch national DNA database. We also give practical recommendations on the usefulness of both methods.

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More for the same? Enhancing the investigative potential of forensic DNA databases (REF 0415)

Cited by 8 publications

References 0 publications

Familial Identification: Population Structure and Relationship Distinguishability

Familial Identification: Population Structure and Relationship Distinguishability

Does an English appeal court ruling increase the risks of miscarriages of justice when complex DNA profiles are searched against the national DNA database?

Probabilistic Strategies for Familial DNA Searching

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