A new Colorado state law increases eligibility for people convicted of felonies to receive DNA testing, providing a recourse for…
Browsing: DNA
A California man who was tried and jailed for 19 months for the 1987 murder of a 6-year-old boy in…
“There are reportedly thousands of people who are being subjected to this arbitrary, unlawful unconstitutional invasion of privacy,” the lawsuit said.
For the first time, Australian researchers found that DNA can be recovered from the surface of three common types of drug capsules after just 15 seconds of contact — revolutionizing how law enforcement can track down and identify criminal organizations.
As developments in law enforcement technology regarding DNA evidence matching and facial recognition software have begun “pushing the frontiers of forensics,” advocates warn that without oversight and proper understanding of the technology, systemic injustices will be exacerbated.
Excitement and controversy over the combination of DNA tests and genealogy research has focused on identifying suspects in cold cases. But, regardless of arrest potential, there’s another potential benefit: peace of mind for families of long-lost victims.
“What we have right now we can call the Wild West. There aren’t a lot of rules on the ground,” Natalie Ram, an associate professor of law at the University of Maryland, said in an interview. “State legislatures are one of the best-situated bodies to engage in rule-making in this area.”
A California paleogeneticist known for extracting DNA information from fossilized bones has been quietly working for 18 months with law enforcement authorities to solve cold-case murders using a technique to extract needed genetic information from hair samples that lack a root.
Ever since the Utah attorney general’s office encouraged prosecutors statewide to make broader use of machines that process DNA evidence in a matter of hours, the technology has been used in dozens of criminal investigations. Some prosecutors and DNA experts say that’s a mistake.
Law enforcement interest in using genealogy data to find criminal suspects has ballooned since an arrest last year in a California serial murder case. Now Alabama police say they have solved a 1999 double murder using the same technique.