DNA as Evidence: Viewing Science Through the Prism of the Law

DNA evidence has transformed the proof of identity in criminal litigation, but it has also introduced daunting problems of statistical analysis into the process. In this article, we analyze a problem related to DNA evidence that is likely to be of great and increasing significance in the near future. This is the problem of whether, and how, to present evidence that the suspect has been identified through a DNA database search. The following article is adapted from "DNA Database Searches and the Legal Consumption of Scientific Evidence," 97.4 Michigan Law Review 931-984 (1999), and appears here with permission of the Michigan Law Review Association.