Turning Base Hits into Earned Runs: Improving the Effectiveness of Forensic DNA Data Bank Programs

Bieber F. R. , “Science and Technology in Forensic DNA Profiling,” in Lazer D. , ed., DNA and the Criminal Justice System: The Technology of Justice (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2004): 23–62.

Gross S. R. , “Exonerations in the United States, 1989 through 2003,” Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology 95 (2005): 523–560.

Biesecker L. G. Bailey-Wilson J. E. Ballantyne J. Baum H. Bieber F. R. , “DNA Identifications from the 9/11 World Trade Center Attack,” Science 310 (2005): 1122–1123.

Budowle B. Bieber F. R. Eisenberg A. , “Forensic Aspects of Mass Disasters: Strategic Considerations for DNA-Based Human Identification,” Legal Medicine (Tokyo) 7, no. 4 (2005): 230–243.

FBI, CODIS webpage, Mission Statement and Background, at <http://www.fbi.gov/hq/lab/codis/program.htm> (last visited February 28, 2006).

Williams R. Johnson P. , and Martin P. , “Genetic Information & Crime Investigation: Social, Ethical and Public Policy Aspects of the Establishment, Expansion and Police Use of the National DNA Database,” School of Applied Sciences, University of Durham web site, 2004, available at <http://www.dur.ac.uk/p.j.johnson> (last visited February 28, 2006); Williams R. and Johnson P. , “Forensic DNA Databasing: A European Perspective, Interim Report,” School of Applied Sciences, University of Durham web site, June 2005, at <http://www.dur.ac.uk/p.j.johnson> (last visited February 28, 2006).

Gill P. Fereday L. Norling N. Schneider P. M. , “The Evolution of DNA Databases – Recommendations for New European STR Loci,” Forensic Science International 156 (2006): 242–244.

For details on the National DNA Databank of Canada, see National DNA Databank website, at <http://www.nddb-bndg.org/main_e.htm> (last visited February 28, 2006); National DNA Databank of Canada, Annual Report, 2004–2005, at <http://www.nddb-bndg.org/train/docs/Annual_2005_e.pdf> (last visited February 28, 2006); for details on the Canadian DNA Identification Act of 1998, see Department of Justice Canada, Updates to Justice Laws website, at <http://laws.justice.gc.ca/en/D-3.8/185698.html> (last visited February 28, 2006).

Interpol Resolution 8, DNA Profiling, available at <http://www.interpol.int/Public/ICPO/GeneralAssembly/AGN67/Resolutions/AGN67RES8.asp> (last visited February 28, 2006).

See Axelrad S. , Survey of DNA Database Statutes (as of July, 2005), at <www.aslme.org>.

See Axelrad S. , supra note 10; following the U.K. lead, in the U.S. there has been steady growth in the size of convicted offender DNA databases (e.g., an approximately five-fold increase in the past four years) due in large part to an expansion of the statutory criteria for inclusion. In the U.S., forty-three states have amended their criminal codes to provide for DNA collections from all felons and six states (CA, LA, TX, and VA) now include arrestees as well. Currently there are almost three million DNA profiles and samples in the U.S. offender/arrestee databank.

Codified at 42 U.S.C. &14135a (2005). President George W. Bush, on January 5, 2006, signed into law the Violence Against Women and Department of Justice Reauthorization Act of 2005 (H.R. 3402). Public Law Number 109–162 (See Table 1 for summary of DNA provisions).

For the official statistics on the U.S. DNA database, see CODIS home page, at <http://www.fbi.gov/hq/lab/codis/index1.htm> (last visited February 28, 2006), also, NDIS Statistics, at <http://www.fbi.gov/hq/lab/codis/clickmap.htm> (last visited February 28, 2006).

Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology, The National DNA Database PostNote, February 2006, Number 258, at <http://www.parliament.uk/documents/upload/postpn258.pdf> (last visited March 5, 2006).

See supra note 8.

U.S. v. Kincade , 354 F.3d 1095 (9th Cir. 2003), vacated en banc 379 F.3d 813 (9th Cir. 2004).

Solomon J. , “A.P.: FBI's DNA Database Gets Heavy Use,” March 9, 2004, available at <http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2004/03/09/ap_fbis_dna_database_gets_heavy_use?mode=PF> (last visited February 28, 2006).

Willing R. , “Suspects Get Snared by a Relative's DNA,” USA Today, June 7, 2005.

Bright J. , Familial Database Searching – a New Zealand Case Study, paper presented at Promega Human Identity Symposium, Scottsdale, AZ, 2004.

Bieber F. R. Lazer D. , “Guilt by Association,” New Scientist, October 23, 2004, available at <http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=mg18424703.000>; Bieber F. R. Brenner C. H. Lazer D. , unpublished.

See BBC News, “How Police Found Gafoor,” at <http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/3038138.stm> (last visited February 28, 2006).

Potter T. , “Source: Daughter's Records Were Subpoenaed,” Wichita Eagle, March 3, 2005.

Goodyear C. Hallissy E. , “The Other Side of DNA Evidence: An Innocent Man is Freed,” San Francisco Chronicle, October 19, 1999, at <http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/1999/10/19/MN03DNA.DTL> (last visited February 28, 2006).

See supra note 8.

See supra note 13.

Various jurisdictions report “cold hit” rates – the percentage of crime scene DNA profiles that connect to a catalogued offender in the database – of from ten percent to as much as sixty percent. The variation depends on the rules for database inclusion, the maturity of the database, and on how the statistics are defined.

Adams D. , “National DNA Database is Well-Worth Taxpayers' Investment,” USA Today, November 30, 2005, at <http://www.usatoday.com/news/opinion/editorials/2005-11-30-letters-dna-database_x.htm>.

Gilmer J. A. van Alstyne D. J. “The First 100 Hits – Forensic-Offender Matches on the New York State DNA Data Bank,” NYS Division of Criminal Justice Services, January 2002, at <http://criminaljustice.state.ny.us/crimnet/ojsa/100_hits/> (last visited February 28, 2006).

Willing R. , “DNA Matches Win Few Convictions in VA,” USA Today, November 7, 2005, USA Today website, at <http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2005-11-07-dna-convictions_x.htm?csp=34> (last visited February 28, 2006).

DNA is left at the majority of sexual assaults, but the extent to which it is available at other types of crime is quite variable. This alone can preclude use of DNA testing.

Goodyear C. Hallissy E. , “Dangerous Delay on DNA. State Struggles to Gather Genetic Profiles of Violent Felons,” San Francisco Chronicle, October 19, 1999, at <http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/1999/10/19/MN05DNA.DTL> (last visited February 28, 2006).

FBI website, Uniform Crime Reports, at <http://www.fbi.gov/ucr/ucr.htm> (last visited February 28, 2006); U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics, Crime and Victims Statistics, at <http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/cvict.htm#summary> (last visited February 28, 2006).

Schlesinger L. B. , Serial Offenders (New York: CRC Press, 2001); Farrington D. , “The Development of Offending and Antisocial Behavior from Childhood: Key Findings from the Cambridge Study of Delinquent Development,” Journal of Childhood Psychology and Psychiatry 36 (1995): 929–964; Putkonenen A. Ryynanen O. P. Eronen M. , and Tiihonen J. , “The Quantitative Risk of Violent Crime And Criminal Offending: A Case-Control Study among the Offspring of Recidivistic Finnish Homicide Offenders,” Acta Psychiatr Scand 106 (Suppl 412) (2002): 54–57; Smith C. and Farrington D. , “Continuities in Antisocial Behavior and Parenting Across Three Generations,” Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry 45, no. 2 (2004): 230–247; Farrington D. Barnes D. P. , and Lambert S. , “The Concentration of Offenders in Families,” Legal and Criminological Psychology 1 (1996): 47–63; 17.1% of jail inmates surveyed reported a father, 4.4% a mother, 30.3% a brother, 6.2% a sister, 3.3% a spouse, and 1.3% a child having been, at some point, in a correctional facility, Beck A. Gilliard D. Greenfeld L. Harlow C. Hester T. Jankowski L. Snell T. Stephan J. Morton D. , Survey of State Prison Inmates, Bureau of Justice Statistics, U.S. Dept. Justice, Correctional Populations in the United States, 1996, at 62, Table 4.18.

McCleary R. , Dangerous Men: The Sociology of Parole (Albany, NY: Harrow and Heston, 1992).

See supra note 18; Lazer D. Meyer M. , DNA and the Criminal Justice System: Consensus and Debate, in Lazer D. , ed., DNA and the Criminal Justice System: The Technology of Justice (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2004): 357–390; Kaye D. H. Smith M. S. , “DNA Databases for Law Enforcement: The Coverage Question and the Case for a Population-Wide Database,” in DNA and the Criminal Justice System: The Technology of Justice, Lazer D. , ed., (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2004): 247–284; Williams R. Johnson P. , “Inclusiveness, Effectiveness and Intrusiveness: Issues in the Developing Uses of DNA Profiling in Support of Criminal Investigations,” Journal of Law, Medicine & Ethics 33 (2005): 545–550. Reprinted in this issue, Journal of Law, Medicine & Ethics 35 (2006): 234–247.

McGrory B. and Levenson M. , “Worthington Probe Eyed Higher-Profile Leads,” The Boston Globe, April 17, 2005, available at <http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2005/04/17/worthington_probe_eyed_higher_profile_leads/> (last visited February 28, 2006).

Foreman L. , “Ohio Attorney General Uses Victims' Fund To Ease DNA Backlog,” August 9, 2004, WCPO TV website, at <http://www.wcpo.com/news/2004/local/08/09/dna.html> (last visited February 28, 2006).

Available at <http://www.aslme.org/dna_04/work2/report.php>.

Daniels A. C. Daniels J. E. , Performance Management: Changing Behavior that Drives Organizational Effectiveness, 4th ed., (Atlanta, GA: Performance Management Publishers, 2004).