Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    Misleading DNA Evidence: Reasons for Miscarriages of Justice
    Misleading DNA Evidence: Reasons for Miscarriages of Justice
    Misleading DNA Evidence: Reasons for Miscarriages of Justice
    Ebook347 pages43 hours

    Misleading DNA Evidence: Reasons for Miscarriages of Justice

    By Peter Gill

    ()

    Read preview

    About this ebook

    Misleading DNA Evidence: A Guide for Scientists, Judges, and Lawyers presents the reasons miscarriages of justice can occur when dealing with DNA, what the role of the forensic scientist is throughout the process, and how judges and lawyers can educate themselves about all of the possibilities to consider when dealing with cases that involve DNA evidence.

    DNA has become the gold standard by which a person can be placed at the scene of a crime, and the past decade has seen great advances in this powerful crime solving tool. But the statistics that analysts can attach to DNA evidence often vary, and in some cases the statistical weight assigned to that match, can vary enormously. The numbers provided to juries often overstate the evidence, and can result in a wrongful conviction. In addition to statistics, the way the evidence is collected, stored and analyzed can also result in a wrongful conviction due to contamination.

    This book reviews high-profile and somewhat contentious cases to illustrate these points, including the death of Meredith Kercher. It examines crucial topics such as characterization of errors and determination of error rates, reporting DNA profiles and the source and sub-source levels, and the essentials of statement writing. It is a concise, readable resource that will help not only scientists, but legal professionals with limited scientific backgrounds, to understand the intricacies of DNA use in the justice system.

    • Ideal reference for scientists and for those without extensive scientific backgrounds
    • Written by one of the pioneers in forensic DNA typing and interpretation of DNA profiling results
    • Ideal format for travel, court environments, or wherever easy access to reference material is vital
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherAcademic Press
    Release dateJun 18, 2014
    ISBN9780124172203
    Misleading DNA Evidence: Reasons for Miscarriages of Justice
    Author

    Peter Gill

    Dr. Peter Gill joined the Forensic Science Service (FSS) in 1982. He began his research into DNA in 1985, collaborating with Sir Alec Jeffreys of Leicester University. In the same year they published the first demonstration of the forensic application of DNA profiling. In 1987, Dr. Gill was given an award under the civil service inventor’s scheme for discovery of the preferential sperm DNA extraction technique and the development of associated forensic tests. He was employed as Senior Principal Research Scientist at the Forensic Science Service (FSS). Currently, he hold concurrent positions at Oslo University Hospital and the University of Oslo where he is Professor of Forensic Genetics. Romanovs In 1993-4, Dr. Gill was responsible for leading the team which confirmed the identity of the remains of the Romanov family, murdered in 1918, and also the subsequent investigation which disproved the claim of Anna Anderson to be the Duchess Anastasia (using tissue preserved in a paraffin wax block for several decades). This was an early example of an historical mystery that was solved by the analysis of very degraded and aged material, and was one of the first demonstrations of low-template DNA analysis. Low-template DNA In relation to the above, Dr. Gill was responsible for developing a routine casework-based ‘super-sensitive’ method of DNA profiling that was capable of analysing DNA profiles from a handful of cells. This method was originally known as low-copy-number (LCN) DNA profiling. Now it is known as Low template DNA profiling. New statistical methods and thinking were also developed to facilitate the new methods. National DNA database Dr. Gill was responsible for leading the team that developed the first multiplex DNA systems to be used in a National DNA database anywhere in the world, and for the design of interpretation methods that are in current use (c.1995). Court reporting: Dr. Gill has been involved with giving evidence in several high profile (controversial) cases – including the Doheny / Adams appeals, and the Omagh bombing trial in the UK. Membership of scientific societies Currently, Dr. Gill is a member of the European Network of Forensic Science Institutes and ex-chair of the ‘methods, analysis and interpretation sub-section’ He is chair of the International society for forensic genetics DNA commission on mixtures and has written a number of ISFG recommendations on low-template, mixture interpretation and evaluation of evidence that are highly cited. D. Gill is a member of the European DNA Profiling Group (EDNAP). He has published more than 200 papers in the international scientific literature which have been cited more than 20,000 times – many of these are collaborative papers under the auspices of ISFG, EDNAP and ENFSI. He is the recipient of the 2013 Scientific Prize of the International Society for Forensic Genetics. Affiliations and Expertise Forensic Genetics Research Group, Oslo University Hospital; Institute of Clinical Medicine, University of Oslo, Norwa

    Related to Misleading DNA Evidence

    Related ebooks

    Crime & Violence For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      Why More Mums Are Killing Their Kids

      Jul 3, 2019

      In April this year, the woman known as ‘Australia’s worst female serial killer’ sat quietly in a courtroom in Sydney, waiting to testify at a judicial inquiry that she and her supporters hoped would overturn her convictions for the deaths of her four

      8 min read

    • Article

      Code Breaker

      Jul 5, 2023

      Code Breaker
      7 min read

    • Article

      The Trouble With Scientists

      Nov 2, 2017

      Sometimes it seems surprising that science functions at all. In 2005, medical science was shaken by a paper with the provocative title “Why most published research findings are false.”1 Written by John Ioannidis, a professor of medicine at Stanford U

      12 min read

    • Article

      The Trouble With Scientists: How one psychologist is tackling human biases in science.

      May 14, 2015

      Sometimes it seems surprising that science functions at all. In 2005, medical science was shaken by a paper with the provocative title “Why most published research findings are false.”1 Written by John Ioannidis, a professor of medicine at Stanford U

      12 min read

    • Article

      Method Could Interrupt Key Process In Neurodegenerative Disease

      Apr 8, 2024

      Researchers have uncovered a potential method for interrupting the misfolding of tau protein that underlies neurodegenerative disease. A spectrum of neurodegenerative diseases, including frontotemporal dementia (FTD), progressive supranuclear palsy (

      3 min read

    • Article

      A Dangerous Brain

      Aug 15, 2018

      In 1978, Thomas Barefoot was convicted of killing a police officer in Texas. During the sentencing phase of his trial, the prosecution called two psychiatrists to testify about Barefoot’s “future dangerousness,” a capital-sentencing requirement that

      4 min read

    • Article

      Opinion: All Study Participants Have A Right To Know Their Own Results. My Lab Has Been Doing That For Years

      Sep 5, 2018

      Giving study participants their individual results can drive greater public participation in research, increased support for science, and better health.

      6 min read

    • Article

      Lab-grown Mini Brains That Mimic Features Of Parkinson’s Created For The First Time

      Oct 6, 2021

      Each year more than 17,000 people aged 45 and over are diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease in the UK. Worldwide, neurological disorders are the leading cause of disability, and Parkinson’s disease is the fastest growing among them. Parkinson’s is a pr

      1 min read

    • Article

      We Owe These 5 Research Discoveries to Twins

      Nov 10, 2017

      Twin research has led to all kinds incredible insights into an important mystery: nature vs. nurture or how the environment and our genes affect our health. “Twins allow us to control perfectly for one of the main variables in our health—genetics. Th

      3 min read

    Related categories

    Reviews for Misleading DNA Evidence

    0 ratings

    0 ratings0 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

      Book preview

      Misleading DNA Evidence - Peter Gill

      science.

      Preface

      It is nearly 30 years since the first demonstration of DNA profiling in forensic science. Since then, the technique has evolved remarkably. In the early days, only large visible crime stains (e.g., blood, semen) were analyzed. This was imposed by the relatively poor sensitivity relative to today’s standards. There is an inherent advantage to the interpretation of macro-DNA samples, in that it is much easier to deduce the relevance of a supposed crime stain to the crime event itself. From the perspective of a court, the fact that a DNA profile may match a defendant is of secondary interest to the questions: how and when did the DNA transfer take place? For a defendant to be found guilty, a court must be convinced that the DNA profile is associated with the crime event itself. The forensic scientist attempts to apply deductive logic in order to associate the DNA profile with some other aspect of the case—it is not the fact of a matching DNA profile that is of primary interest, rather it is the context or the relevance of the DNA profile to the crime event itself. To make deductive inferences, a chain of associations is implied. For example, the DNA profile may be found along with a positive test for blood. The scientist may deduce that the origin of the DNA is from blood—an association is made. The confirmation of a body fluid source is often sufficient to imply an activity—if blood is present, then the prosecution may imply that the defendant or victim bled at the crime scene; alternatively, the confirmation of semen may imply sexual assault. Once these associations have been accepted, the court’s task to decide the ultimate issue of guilt/innocence is a short step to take.

      Associations are necessary for any deductions to be made. In recent years, the sensitivity of DNA profiling has steadily increased, so that now the analysis of just a handful of cells is not only possible, but also routine in most forensic laboratories. This has been made possible by the introduction of new multiplexes by manufacturers (these are biochemical systems used to detect DNA profiles), along with new highly sensitive detection platforms.

      However, as the sensitivity of DNA profiling technology increases, there is a parallel increase in the uncertainty of associations. This is because DNA is everywhere in the environment. It can be transferred passively, e.g., by touching a surface, or by secondary transfer, mediated by a person other than the defendant. DNA will persist indefinitely in a dry environment, hence there is no implicit information attached to the DNA profile that gives a clue to the how and when transfer occurred.

      To avoid false associations leading to false deductive logic, it is necessary for scientists to actively consider all possible methods of transfer: before the crime event—innocent transfer or background contamination; after the crime event—investigator mediated contamination. The identification of a DNA profile and body fluid are two separate tests. The association of the body fluid with the DNA profile is not implicit. The strength of the evidence expressed as the chance of a random man match or a likelihood ratio cannot be simply transposed to express an equivalent strength of evidence under the assumption that the DNA profile originated from a given body fluid; the uncertainty reduces the strength of the evidence, but this is not always taken into consideration when expert evidence is provided. The uncertainties increase as we consider the activity that produced the DNA transfer—as before, the DNA statistic cannot be transposed.

      The book is structured into a number of chapters:

      The first chapter discusses a definition of trace-DNA and proceeds to explain the main types of contamination and its impact. There follows a description of causes of miscarriages of justice: the association fallacy; the hidden perpetrator effect; the compounded error effect; cognitive biases—especially confirmation bias. The role of the forensic scientist is clarified within the context of a statement of limitations intended to anchor the evidence at a level that can be supported in a strict scientific sense, so that speculative expert-opinion is avoided.

      The second chapter investigates the causes of miscarriages of justice by reference to several verified and unverified examples, showing how mistakes occur at every level of the criminal justice system: the investigator; the scientist; lawyers; the judge; the jury are all susceptible to an over-simplistic interpretation of evidence that is primarily driven by a family of cognitive

      Enjoying the preview?
      Page 1 of 1