The Paradigm Shift in DNA Profile Interpretation

• NCJ Number: 253141
• Date Published: November 2017
• Length: 9 pages
• Author(s): Jo-Anne Bright; Duncan Taylor; Simone Gittleson; John Buckleton
• Agencies: NIJ-Sponsored
• Publication Type: Research (Applied/Empirical), Report (Study/Research), Report (Grant Sponsored), Program/Project Description, Literature Review
• Grant Number(s): 2011-DN-BX-K541
• Award: Population Genetic Issues for Forensic DNA Profiles

Annotation

This article examines the paradigm shift in DNA profile interpretation when two or more individuals contribute to a sample.

Abstract

DNA mixtures occur when two or more individuals contribute to a sample. Mixtures can vary greatly in complexity. Key variables are the number of donors, the template amount of each donor's DNA, and the level of DNA degradation of each donor. There is little published material that the current study could find about behaviors related to the limits of DNA mixture interpretation in the 90 s and 00s. From the current researchers' own personal knowledge, they recall that two-person mixtures were regularly examined in the 90 s and that a ratio of 10:1 was considered a reasonable limit beyond which the profile was considered too complex to interpret. Three-person and higher order mixtures were seldom attempted. (publisher abstract modified)