CODIS Searches and Partial Matches

The original intent for allowing moderate stringency CODIS searches was to account for the fact that crime scene profiles are often partially degraded and/or contain DNA from more than one contributor.¹ Allowing moderate stringency searches takes this into account so that full matches can be identified that might not otherwise have been detected.¹ One unanticipated outcome from the use of moderate stringency searches is the potential to associate a crime scene profile to a relative of an offender profile. In these instances, a partial match is identified as a result of a routine DNA database search.

¹ Scientific Working Group on DNA Analysis Methods Ad Hoc Committee on Partial Matches: SWGDAM Recommendations to the FBI Director on the "Interim Plan for the Release of Information in the Event of a 'Partial Match' at NDIS", Forensic Science Communications October 2009, Volume 11, Number 4.<

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