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The forensic debut of the NRC's DNA report: Population structure, ceiling frequencies and the need for numbers

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Abstract

This paper reviews judicial opinions that have discussed the April 1992 recommendations of a committee of the U.S. National Research Council concerning the statistics of forensic DNA profiles obtained with single-locus VNTR probes. It observes that a few courts have held ‘ceiling frequencies’ (as opposed to less ‘conservative’ estimates) admissible, but that the implications of the scientific criticisms of the ceiling procedures have yet to be addressed adequately in court opinions. It urges courts to distinguish between policy judgments and scientific assessments in both the NRC report and the scientific literature, and to defer less to the former than to the latter.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Law, Arizona State University, Box 877906, 85287-7906, Tempe, AZ, USA

    D. H. Kaye

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  1. D. H. Kaye
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Editor's comments

Scientists caught up in the debate over the use of DNA for human identification may not be fully aware of the legal consequences of their pronouncements. The author provides a very useful discussion of these consequences in showing how courts have interpreted the 1992 NRC report.

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Kaye, D.H. The forensic debut of the NRC's DNA report: Population structure, ceiling frequencies and the need for numbers. Genetica 96, 99–105 (1995). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01441155

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01441155

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