Turning base hits into earned runs: Improving the effectiveness of forensic DNA data bank programs

Journal of Law, Medicine and Ethics

Volumn 34, Issue 2, 2006, Pages 222-233

  Bieber, Frederick R ^a,b,c  

^a BRIGHAM AND WOMEN S HOSPITAL   (United States)

^b HARVARD MEDICAL SCHOOL   (United States)

^c ROYAL CANADIAN MOUNTED POLICE   (Canada)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

CONFERENCE PAPER; CRIME; DNA FINGERPRINTING; HUMAN; INFORMATION RETRIEVAL; LAW ENFORCEMENT; LEGAL ASPECT; NUCLEIC ACID DATABASE;

CRIME; DATABASES, NUCLEIC ACID; DNA FINGERPRINTING; HUMANS; INFORMATION STORAGE AND RETRIEVAL; LAW ENFORCEMENT;

EID: 33744831268     PISSN: 10731105     EISSN: 1748720X     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1111/j.1748-720X.2006.00029.x     Document Type: Conference Paper

References (39)

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8. For details on the National DNA Databank of Canada, see National DNA Databank website, at http://www.nddb-bndg.org/main_e.htm ( last visited February 28 2006 National DNA Databank of Canada, Annual Report, 2004-2005, at (last visited February 28, 2006); for details on the Canadian DNA Identification Act of 1998, see Department of Justice Canada, Updates to Justice Laws website, at (last visited February 28, 2006).
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11. S. Axelrad, supra note 10; following the U.K. lead, in the U.S. there has been steady growth in the size of convicted offender DNA databases (e.g., an approximately five-fold increase in the past four years) due in large part to an expansion of the statutory criteria for inclusion. In The U.S., forty-three states have amended their criminal codes to provide for DNA collections from all felons and six states (CA, LA, TX, and VA) now include arrestees as well. Currently there are almost three million DNA profiles and samples in the U.S. offender/arrestee databank.
12. Codified at 42 U.S.C. & 14135a ( 2005). President George W. Bush, on January 5 2006, signed into law the Violence Against Women and Department of Justice Reauthorization Act of 2005 (H.R. 3402). Public Law Number 109-162 (See Table 1 for summary of DNA provisions).
13. For the official statistics on the U.S. DNA database, see CODIS home page, at http://www.fbi.gov/hq/lab/codis/index1.htm ( last visited February 28 2006 also, NDIS Statistics, at (last visited February 28, 2006).
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26. Various jurisdictions report "cold hit" rates - the percentage of crime scene DNA profiles that connect to a catalogued offender in the database - of from ten percent to as much as sixty percent. The variation depends on the rules for database inclusion, the maturity of the database, and on how the statistics are defined.
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30. DNA is left at the majority of sexual assaults, but the extent to which it is available at other types of crime is quite variable. This alone can preclude use of DNA testing.
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36. B. McGrory and M. Levenson Worthington Probe Eyed Higher-Profile Leads The Boston Globe, April 17 2005, available at http://www.boston.com/news/local/ massachusetts/articles/2005/04/17/worthington_probe_eyed_higher_profile_leads/ ( last visited February 28, 2006).
37. L. Foreman Ohio Attorney General Uses Victims' Fund To Ease DNA Backlog August 9 2004, WCPO TV website, at http://www.wcpo.com/news/2004/local/08/09/ dna.html ( last visited February 28, 2006).
38. Available at http://www.aslme.org/dna_04/work2/report.php.
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