The woman whose DNA from a sexual assault kit was used by San Francisco police to arrest her in an unrelated property crime six years later plans to sue the city. Three days earlier, San Francisco District Attorney Chesa Boudin and California State Senator Scott Wiener announced legislation to ensure this invasion of privacy never occurs again.
read more
The California Court of Appeals has affirmed a lower court decision in the murder conviction of Alvin Larry Davis, ruling that DNA evidence produced through the use of STRmix forensic software “is generally accepted as reliable by the relevant scientific community.”
read more
Baptist Health Foundation Hardin’s Board of Directors announced that it will provide $121,000 to keep Baptist Health Hardin’s Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner (SANE)/Forensic program fully operational despite first-time reductions in state grant funding.
read more
Before last week, Indiana was one of only 15 states in the U.S. without an evidence preservation law, leaving the decision on how long to preserve biological evidence completely up to law enforcement agencies, court clerks, hospitals and more.
read more
Authorities said that forensic and criminal investigation experts had confirmed the identities of 114 passengers and six crew members.
read more
In groundbreaking work that has the potential to completely upend forensic DNA analysis, a particle physicist has developed technology that can deconvolute a DNA mixture of up to 8 people in less than one minute—in a deterministic manner.
read more
Depositing skin cells and their DNA varies between individuals, but new data shows that some people have higher intra-variability in their cell deposits.
read more
Law enforcement agencies faced with investigating long-unsolved cases must address both practical and philosophical considerations before doing so.
read more
Newly available touch DNA technology allowed the previously impossible analysis of evidence left on an awl—a leatherworking tool similar to an icepick—that was found at the crime scene.
read more
When DNA evidence is available that matches the suspects in sexual assault cases, prosecutors are more likely to litigate and the odds of conviction are more than nine times greater than cases without biological evidence.
read more