The DNA Connection

Seven years ago, the decision was made to include in a DNA database those individuals identified as being in the United States illegally. A brilliant idea for several reasons.

R-DNA testing, when fully implemented and integrated into CODIS, will be the most transformational event in the use of forensic DNA since the advent of PCR.

It’s more than a little ironic that the week before the DNA of Ted Bundy, one of America’s most notorious serial killers, is entered into a DNA database, the First Appellate Court in California has ruled its arrestee database to be unconstitutional.

As long as rape kit backlogs are part of our current events stories rather than our historical retrospectives, I think it important to occasionally point out how far we have to go.

The most important factor influencing the potential effect of DNA in any criminal justice system is what the law allows you to do with it.

As I began to put together some notes and think about the benchmarks of DNA’s integration into our American system of justice, I inevitably began to think about the people who have been integral to that process. For all of those who stand out in their individual fields of expertise, one person came to mind who, has contributed to the whole picture, Dr. Paul Ferrara.

On December 14, 2010, the British government announced that by March 2012, the FSS would be closed down. It is a monumental event in the forensic science community.

A local database with a rapid turnaround time and results that can be quickly entered into that database has huge benefits.

Nowhere in the world is forensic DNA technology more needed than on the continent of Africa—and nowhere is it less available. That must change.

Apparently, the “National” DNA database isn’t very national. The state, or more appropriately officials in the state, that maintains the offender information can choose not to release that information.