When DNA is lying

Starr, Douglas

doi:10.1126/science.351.6278.1133

Cited by 6 publications

(5 citation statements)

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“…In 2014, law enforcement attempted to use the Y-STR data from Ancestry.com to identify a perpetrator in the Angie Dodge homicide investigation. They constructed a profile of 35 Y-STRs from semen found at the crime scene and obtained a subpoena to request Ancestry.com to compare the STR profile with its Y-chromosome database (101,112). One of the matches at 34 of the 35 loci connected investigators to Michael Usry Jr., a filmmaker in New Orleans, Louisiana (112).…”

Section: Investigative Genetic Genealogymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…They constructed a profile of 35 Y-STRs from semen found at the crime scene and obtained a subpoena to request Ancestry.com to compare the STR profile with its Y-chromosome database (101,112). One of the matches at 34 of the 35 loci connected investigators to Michael Usry Jr., a filmmaker in New Orleans, Louisiana (112). A court order compelled Usry to provide a DNA sample, which excluded him as a suspect (101).…”

Section: Investigative Genetic Genealogymentioning

confidence: 99%

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Pedigrees and Perpetrators: Uses of DNA and Genealogy in Forensic Investigations

Katsanis

2020

Annu. Rev. Genom. Hum. Genet.

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In the past few years, cases with DNA evidence that could not be solved with direct matches in DNA databases have benefited from comparing single-nucleotide polymorphism data with private and public genomic databases. Using a combination of genome comparisons and traditional genealogical research, investigators can triangulate distant relatives to the contributor of DNA data from a crime scene, ultimately identifying perpetrators of violent crimes. This approach has also been successful in identifying unknown deceased persons and perpetrators of lesser crimes. Such advances are bringing into focus ethical questions on how much access to DNA databases should be granted to law enforcement and how best to empower public genome contributors with control over their data. The necessary policies will take time to develop but can be informed by reflection on the familial searching policies developed for searches of the federal DNA database and considerations of the anonymity and privacy interests of civilians. Expected final online publication date for the Annual Review of Genomics and Human Genetics, Volume 21 is August 31, 2020. Please see http://www.annualreviews.org/page/journal/pubdates for revised estimates.

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Section: Investigative Genetic Genealogymentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Investigative Genetic Genealogymentioning

confidence: 99%

Pedigrees and Perpetrators: Uses of DNA and Genealogy in Forensic Investigations

Katsanis

2020

Annu. Rev. Genom. Hum. Genet.

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“…Nevertheless, the data also show that previous highly confident 'identification' conclusions can be changed to 'inconclusive' or 'exclusion' when the same fingerprints were presented to the same experts within irrelevant contextual information. with multiple contributors, a great deal is determined at the discretion of the forensic DNA expert (Starr, 2016) A study conducted by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (Coble, 2015) replicated this finding using DNA that could be analysed with established statistical tools (used regularly in court). Similar to Dror and Hampikian (2011), Coble (2015) found significant differences and variations in the forensic conclusions, even within the same forensic laboratories, using the same statistics (Starr, 2016).…”

mentioning

confidence: 96%

“…with multiple contributors, a great deal is determined at the discretion of the forensic DNA expert (Starr, 2016) A study conducted by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (Coble, 2015) replicated this finding using DNA that could be analysed with established statistical tools (used regularly in court). Similar to Dror and Hampikian (2011), Coble (2015) found significant differences and variations in the forensic conclusions, even within the same forensic laboratories, using the same statistics (Starr, 2016). Similar findings have also been observed in other expert forensic domains, such as footwear identification conclusions (Majamaa & Ytti, 1996).…”

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confidence: 96%

“…That is, even without biasing irrelevant contextual information, are experts consistent with one another? A number of studies with forensic DNA experts have examined this question and have revealed an alarming lack of reliability (when dealing with complex DNA, such as mixtures with multiple contributors, a great deal is determined at the discretion of the forensic DNA expert (Starr, 2016)). In the first published study examining this question, Dror and Hampikian (2011) presented 17 experts with an identical DNA mixture.…”

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confidence: 99%

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A hierarchy of expert performance.

Dror¹

2016

Journal of Applied Research in Memory and Cognition

119

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Expert performance can be quantified by examining reliability and biasability between and within experts, and teasing apart their observations from their conclusions. I utilize these parameters to develop a Hierarchy of Expert Performance (HEP) that includes eight distinct levels. Using this hierarchy I evaluate and quantify the performance of forensic experts, a highly specialized domain that plays a critical role in the criminal justice system. Evaluating expert performance within HEP enables the identification of weaknesses in expert performance, and enables the comparison of experts across domains. HEP also provides theoretical and applied insights into expertise.The successful completion of many everyday tasks depends upon human performance abilities; even more so in highly specialized domains, such as aviation, medicine, forensics, finance, and policing, where expert performance is critical. In these and other domains, we trust our money, health, and even our lives to the hands of experts. Most experts are talented people with many years of training and experience and therefore are in high demand and well paid.But, how well do competent experts actually perform? Even defining expertise and who is an expert has been a complex and challenging task with a variety of views and disagreements (Feldon, 2007;Hoffman, 1996). Advances in quantifying expert performance are mostly limited to domain-specific areas of expertise, and hence there is a lack of measurements and a unified framework to assess expert performance across domains.An important component of expert performance across domains relates to biasability and reliability. Biasability refers to the ability to make decisions based on relevant information without being biased by irrelevant contextual information. For example, a forensic expert who is aware of such information (e.g., that the suspect confessed to the crime, that eyewitnesses identified the suspect, or that the detective believes the suspect is guilty) is biased to incorrectly judge that the forensic evidence (e.g., firearms, handwriting, voice, fingerprints, etc.) matches the suspect and can wrongly identify the suspect (Dror & Cole, 2010).In addition to issues of biasability there are basic reliability issues. That is, how reliable (i.e., how consistent, how reproducible) is expert decision making even when there is no exposure to irrelevant biasing information? Would experts ଝ Please note that this paper was handled by the current editorial team of JARMAC.

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A Comparison of Fact-Finding Methodology in Evidence Law and History

Zhang

2020

A Dialogue Between Law and History

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When DNA is lying

Abstract: DNA analysis has helped free thousands of wrongly convicted people. But sometimes DNA lands innocent people in prison, Greg Hampikian warns.

Cited by 6 publications

References 0 publications

Pedigrees and Perpetrators: Uses of DNA and Genealogy in Forensic Investigations

Pedigrees and Perpetrators: Uses of DNA and Genealogy in Forensic Investigations

A hierarchy of expert performance.

A Comparison of Fact-Finding Methodology in Evidence Law and History

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