DNA: What are the odds?
July 25, 2008
My story in today’s paper, “Raising Doubt on DNA,” deals with the practice of using DNA databases and DNA found at a crime scene to identify the perpetrator. It was sparked by an ongoing series in the Los Angeles Times, especially last Sunday’s piece.
It’s an eye-opener. Last Sunday’s story begins like this:
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.
The men matched at nine of the 13 locations on chromosomes, or loci, commonly used to distinguish people.
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.
According to the Times, “Arizona searches” in that state, Illinois and Maryland have yielded more than a thousand instances in which at least two samples match at nine or more loci. The FBI says the way the searches are conducted skews the result, and points out that it now looks for matches at 13 loci.
To read last Sunday’s story, click here; for other stories in the Times’ series, click here.
CARYN TAMBER, Legal Affairs Writer
Sphere: Related ContentComments
One Response to “DNA: What are the odds?”
Got something to say?
-
Business
Business posts- Put your dukes up
- Who’s the big winner at Constellation’s Senior Players Championship?
- A recap of TechNite
- Slots groups make waves with radio ads
- Irony at an accident site
- Brian Wilson leaving Baltimore’s airwaves again
- GBTC hosts TechNite tomorrow
- Snyder a confirmed Top Chef contestant
- ‘All the comforts of home’ now include Wii
- Legislation up for vote
Law
Law postsRecent Posts
- Put your dukes up
- This week in Maryland Lawyer
- Law blog round-up
- Who’s the big winner at Constellation’s Senior Players Championship?
Recent Comments
- Tim: The kid was wrong! He either was not taught to respect others especially those in authority or he has rebelled...
- Richard Simon: If you would like to see a live video feed from Technite at the Baltimore Convention Center, go to...
- Kim: A typical root canal with a specialist will usually run a human from $1000 to $2000.
- publicus: Of course Congress should pass such a law. Without it, the freedom of speech in every country would be...
- neil helfrich: Barbara, Dana is Dan Moylan’s daughter not Charles Moylan”s daughter. BTW, the theory does...
On Commenting
We ask that our readers follow a few guidelines, noted below.Please do not post any personal attacks, profanity, spam or other advertisements — they will be removed. Also, please post using only one name or pseudonym, as this consistency helps establish a sense of community. We will delete posts if they are signed with different names but originate from the same IP or email address. And if you’re going to comment using a proper name, please make it your own. Deliberate misrepresentations will be removed.
Statistics are derived from available data. Before Three Mile Island and Chernobyl the liklihood of a meltdown at a nuclear plant was estimated at about one in a billion. Then came the events that changed everything. DNA matching is a relatively new field and the statistics are still evolving. What will that mean for future juries?