ARTICLES
Is DNA evidence infallible?
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Cannabis is one of the most widely used recreational drugs in
Our skin sheds small amounts of trace DNA continuously. It is now well established that this trace DNA can sometimes be unwittingly be picked up and deposited on a surface that the DNA originator has never touched or visited!
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All this has serious implications for how DNA profiling is used in criminal investigations. At a crime scene, trace DNA evidence recovered may not be relevant or useful, because the originator of that DNA would not necessarily have accompanied the trace DNA as it was picked up and moved by other instruments to its final resting position.
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This highlights the significant risk of a false conviction and the question as to who should be allowed to access DNA information that the State may want to store in a database and how should it be regulated? That DNA contains ALL the genetic information which defines a person and much of the genetic information of that person’s parents, siblings and children as well.
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IFPI’s submission to the Law Commission set out the case for more research and analysis on the risk of a false conviction as result of DNA evidence being inappropriately used.
