DNA fingerprinting 'no longer foolproof' (says DNA fingerprinting father)

[Khephra]

Pioneer of process calls for upgrade

Alok Jha, science correspondent
Thursday September 9, 2004
The Guardian

The genetic profiles held by police for criminal investigations are not sophisticated enough to prevent false identifications, according to the father of DNA fingerprinting.

Professor Sir Alec Jeffreys, a geneticist at Leicester University, said police DNA databases should hold more information to lessen the chances of a false positive.

snip............

Genetic profiles stored by police normally record the details of 10 specific parts of the long chain of molecules that make up a person's DNA. The chances of two unrelated people having the same details for all these 10 markers - and hence the chance of a false identification - is said to be about one in a billion. This method has traditionally been regarded as highly efficient at identifying suspects from DNA traces left at crime scenes.

However, Prof Jeffreys said the increasing number of records being held on the police database - currently about 2.5m - meant that having only 10 markers per person was no longer foolproof.

more........

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,3604,1300068,00.html

[Soopercali]

1. Excellent point!

Especially the part about maintaining a database of those who have been wrongly accused. Very thought-provoking.