DNA Profiling: The Transition From Watching Brief to the Courts -- A Victorian Perspective (From DNA and Criminal Justice, P 89-95, 1990, Julia Vernon and Ben Selinger, eds. -- see NCJ-127660)

• NCJ Number: 127670
• Author(s): T Raymond
• Date Published: 1990
• Length: 7 pages
• Sale Source: Australian Institute of Criminology
• Publication Type: Research (Applied/Empirical)
• Language: English
• Country: Australia

Annotation

The State Forensic Science Laboratory in Victoria, Australia, has carried out DNA profiling on seven homicides and nine sexual assaults to date. Four case studies described in this article make the point that, while DNA fingerprinting has been overplayed in the media, it is an exciting and significant advance in the field of forensic biology.

Abstract

The first case study involves a suspect in a series of 14 rapes who refused to submit a blood sample for DNA analysis. Various other tissue samples were obtained from other physical objects and his family members and the evidence was sufficient for police to place charges against the man. The second case describes how a child was profiled in order to obtain a DNA fingerprint of her father, the suspect in her mother's homicide. The third case outlines an ethical question involving the release of certain information from the laboratory to the police. Finally, DNA profiling was used to prosecute a case in which little other circumstantial evidence was present. 5 tables