Familial DNA searching in the US: Why aren’t all states using it?
Rockne P Harmon
DNA Rock, USA
: Forensic Toxicol Pharmacol 2015, 4:4
Abstract
F amilial DNA searching continues to expand in the United States despite a lack of national support for expanding its use. Recently an NIJ funded webinar series was completed and the final report is now available. Some of the conclusions or observations should be of great interest to the leadership of the law enforcement and forensic community. For example, based on data collected by Denver and California DOJ, FS has demonstrated a greater success rate than that of the National DNA database (NDIS). In addition, it is notable that all 9 states currently utilizing FS recognized that their existing database laws already provided implicit legislative authorization for FS that there was no need to change their law. A handful of successes have already gone to trial and no legal challenge was lodged because none is available. The presentation will discuss these issues and others in an effort to further educate the forensic and legal community on the viability of familial DNA searching as a means to try to solve some of the 300,000 unsolved crimes with evidence profiles in the National database.
Biography
