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Principles of Forensic DNA for Officers of the Court

Relevance of Statistical Information (cont.)

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Second, an estimate of the frequency in the general population is calculated by plugging the database frequency into a sampling equation. An example of a conclusion derived from this calculation is, "The mitochondrial DNA profile observed in hair sample A and individual B would not be present in at least 99.94% of North Americans (with 95% confidence)."

A related conclusion is, "The mitochondrial DNA profile observed in hair sample A and individual B would be present in no more than 0.06% of North Americans (with 95% confidence)."

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