A Guide to Forensic DNA Profiling

A Guide to Forensic DNA Profiling

The increasingly arcane world of DNA profiling demands that those requiring to understand at least some of it must find a source of reliable and understandable information. Combining material from the successful Wiley Encyclopedia of Forensic Science with newly commissioned and updated material, the Editors have used their own extensive experience in criminal casework across the world to compile an informative guide that will provide knowledge and thought-provoking articles of interest to anyone involved or interested in the use of DNA in the forensic context.

Following extensive introductory chapters covering forensic DNA profiling and forensic genetics, this comprehensive volume presents a substantial breadth of material covering:

• Fundamental material—including sources of DNA, validation, and accreditation
• Analysis and interpretation—including extraction, quantification, amplification, and interpretation of electropherograms (epgs)
• Evaluation—including mixtures, low template, and transfer
• Applications—databases, paternity and kinship, mitochondrial DNA, wildlife DNA, single-nucleotide polymorphism, phenotyping, and familial searching
• Court—report writing, discovery, cross examination, and current controversies

With contributions from leading experts across the whole gamut of forensic science, this volume is intended to be authoritative but not authoritarian, informative but comprehensible, and comprehensive but concise. It will prove to be a valuable addition, and a useful resource, for scientists, lawyers, teachers, criminologists, and judges.

Professor Allan Jamieson, co-Editor in Chief of the Wiley Encyclopedia of Forensic Science, has an extensive and detailed career history in forensic biology and genetics. Professor Jamieson is currently a visiting Professor of Forensic Sciences at Staffordshire University and is also a DNA expert at the Institute of Forensic Sciences. Professor Jamieson has provided written and oral evidence and advice in over 1000 criminal cases in England, Northern Ireland, Scotland, USA, New Zealand, Cyprus and Australia and has published many papers in peer-reviewed publications such as Science & Justice and Forensic Science International. Professor Jamieson is a Chartered Biologist and is a Fellow of the Society of Biology.

Dr Scott Bader has conducted research in the molecular genetics and cell biology of cancer for over 20 years at several institutions in the United States (including the University of California, National Institutes of Health and the University of Texas), as well as in the United Kingdom (at the University of Edinburgh). Dr Bader has published more than 30 academic research papers, and has reviewed a number of research manuscripts and grant application proposals throughout his career in academia. For approximately the last six years, Dr Bader has been a consultant scientist at The Forensic Institute, doing forensic science casework as well as providing seminars to lawyers. Dr Bader has been a part-time lecturer in Forensic Science Evidence Evaluation at the University of Edinburgh and is currently a Fellow of the Society of Biology.

Contributors ix

Foreword xiii

Preface xv

Glossary xvii

Abbreviations and Acronyms xxiii

1 Introduction to Forensic Genetics 1
Scott Bader

2 DNA:An Overview 7
Eleanor Alison May Graham

3 DNA 27
Simon J. Walsh

4 Introduction to Forensic DNA Profiling – The Electropherogram (epg) 35
Allan Jamieson

5 Biological Stains 49
Peter R. Gunn

6 Sources of DNA 57
Sally-Ann Harbison

7 Identification and Individualization 67
Christophe Champod

8 Transfer 71
Georgina E. Meakin

9 Laboratory Accreditation 77
Allan Jamieson

10 Validation 83
Campbell A. Ruddock

11 Extraction 95
Campbell Ruddock

12 Quantitation 103
Robert I. O’Brien

13 Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) 111
Campbell Ruddock

14 Interpretation of Mixtures; Graphical 115
Allan Jamieson

15 DNA Mixture Interpretation 129
Dan E. Krane

16 Degraded Samples 137
Jason R. Gilder

17 Ceiling Principle: DNA 143
Simon J. Walsh

18 Y-Chromosome Short Tandem Repeats 145
Jack Ballantyne and Erin K. Hanson

19 Expert Systems in DNA Interpretation 151
Hinda Haned and Peter Gill

20 Paternity Testing 159
Burkhard Rolf and Peter Wiegand

21 Observer Effects 167
William C. Thompson

22 Databases 171
Simon J. Walsh

23 Missing Persons and Paternity: DNA 179
Bruce S. Weir

24 Familial Searching 189
Klaas Slooten and Ronald Meester

25 Single Nucleotide Polymorphism 199
Claus Børsting, Vania Pereira, Jeppe D. Andersen, and Niels Morling

26 Mini-STRs 217
Michael D. Coble and Rebecca S. Just

27 Phenotype 223
Tony Frudakis

28 Mitochondrial DNA: Profiling 239
Terry Melton

29 Geographical Identification by Viral Genotyping 245
Hiroshi Ikegaya, Pekka J. Saukko, Yoshinao Katsumata, and Takehiko Takatori

30 Microbial Forensics 253
Bruce Budowle and Phillip C. Williamson

31 Wildlife Crime 265
Lucy M.I. Webster

32 DNA Databases – The Significance of Unique Hits and the Database Controversy 271
Ronald Meester

33 DNA Databases and Evidentiary Issues 279
Simon J. Walsh and John S. Buckleton

34 Communicating Probabilistic Forensic Evidence in Court 289
Jonathan J. Koehler

35 Report Writing for Courts 301
Rhonda Marie Wheate

36 Discovery of Expert Findings 307
Rhonda M. Wheate

37 Ethical Rules of Expert Behavior 315
Andre A. Moenssens

38 Verbal Scales: A Legal Perspective 321
Tony Ward

39 Direct Examination of Experts 327
Andre Moenssens

40 Cross-Examination of Experts 331
Andre Moenssens

41 DNA in the UK Courts 335
Rhonda Marie Wheate

42 Legal Issues with Forensic DNA in the USA 347
Christopher A. Flood

43 Controversies in DNA 361
Allan Jamieson

44 Future Technologies and Challenges 373
Allan Jamieson

Index 385

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