Posted on 05/31/2004 12:14:51 AM PDT by neverdem
If New Yorkers whose homes are burglarized despair of ever seeing justice — much less their stereos and jewelry — they have good reason. Less than 20 percent of property crimes in the city are ever solved. That is partly because evidence and witnesses are hard to come by, and partly because the bulk of the manpower and money is devoted to catching violent criminals. DNA testing, for example, is routinely done only in homicides, rapes and the most serious assaults.
But in an attempt to reverse that statistic, the chief medical examiner's office plans to open a new lab to test hundreds of DNA samples a day from nearly every crime scene, including burglarized homes and stolen cars. Because many property crimes do not yield blood, semen or saliva, the lab will use DNA samples previously considered too minuscule to collect, like skin cells left in a smudged fingerprint or a ski mask, and match them against databases of convicted felons, suspects and DNA profiles from crime scenes and rape kits.
The prospect delights both the police and prosecutors, offering for the first time a powerful tool to catch criminals so elusive that many New Yorkers do not even bother to report burglaries. And if, as many criminologists believe, perpetrators tend to progress from nonviolent to violent crimes, the tests could contribute significantly to public safety.
"It extends to a whole universe of crimes that other technology can't touch," said Dr. Charles S. Hirsch, the chief medical examiner. "And we know there are crossover criminals, that burglars become rapists. The impact has a big ripple effect."
With the high-sensitivity lab, as it is called, forensic scientists will be able to get a profile from a mere 6 cells' worth of genetic material, instead of the approximately 150 cells needed for conventional DNA testing. That is even smaller than most samples used in Britain, which pioneered the use of this technology in criminal casework in 1999 and typically uses 30 to 50 cells.
There are as yet no national standards for tests on such small samples, called low copy number DNA analysis, and their admissibility in court has not been widely tested. But using DNA to solve property crimes is an idea that is catching on: conventional samples of DNA taken from burglaries in Miami, for example, have yielded a high number of matches in the database, officials said.
While the technology is not new, the new lab's scope is unprecedented in this country; if all goes according to plan, the New York lab will use robots to test 800 DNA samples a day.
"It's a first for North America; it's a first outside of England," said Ray Wickenheiser, the author of an early paper on the use of DNA from what forensic scientists call "handled objects" to solve a murder for the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, and now director of the Acadiana Crime Lab in Louisiana. "By setting this up in North America, in a much stiffer legal climate, it's very proactive."
But others caution that the method is vulnerable to contamination or mistaken conclusions. "You get spurious results," said Lawrence Kobilinsky, a professor of forensic science at John Jay College of Criminal Justice. "You have to interpret everything very carefully."
He continued, "Low copy number has been looked at very carefully by the F.B.I., and I think that in general their attitude is, this is not ready for prime time." A spokeswoman for the F.B.I. crime lab in Quantico, Va., declined to comment on the method, other than to say that the agency is considering ways to enhance the sensitivity of current DNA methods.
The city's forensic scientists counter that they have done extensive work to validate their techniques. They have broken into one another's apartments and stolen the boss's car, scraped skin cells from clothing with a razor blade, spent long hours in the lab and presented their research for peer review at conferences, where it earns high marks from experts like Joseph E. Warren, a forensic biologist at the University of North Texas Health Science Center, and Mr. Wickenheiser, a senior auditor for one of the two groups in the country that accredit forensic labs.
In part, the scientists' confidence has grown out of the World Trade Center attack. Although the new lab was in the planning stages before Sept. 11, the labor of identifying 8,553 remains from that disaster has honed the staff's ability to handle a high volume of tiny, degraded or contaminated DNA samples. "The World Trade Center drove a lot of this," said Robert Shaler, director of the forensic biology department of the medical examiner's office.
Some of the high-sensitivity lab equipment is already in place, in temporary rented quarters at Bellevue Hospital Center, where scientists say low copy analysis will be under way by the end of the year. Ultimately, the high-sensitivity lab will be housed in a new, $267 million forensic biology building near Bellevue scheduled to be finished in November 2006. At full capacity, it will cost an estimated $4.4 million a year to operate, said Thomas Brondolo, deputy commissioner of the chief medical examiner's office.
In a $185,000 pilot program financed by the National Institute of Justice, the Police Department has already begun to collect samples from a small number of break-ins, albeit only from conventional sources like saliva left on a cigarette butt. The first set of results is expected in a few weeks. In a similar program, the Miami-Dade Police Department has gotten hits on more than 50 percent of its DNA submissions from burglaries, said Willard Stuver, supervisor of the DNA testing program there.
Dr. Shaler said he expects only 10 to 20 percent of the low copy samples in New York to yield usable genetic profiles. "This is not highly efficient testing," he said. "It's all dependent on things like whether the subject washed their hands."
Yet, Dr. Shaler said, even such a small percentage could significantly reduce property crimes because thieves are so often recurrent offenders. And, he said, if DNA evidence induces more suspects to plead guilty, the lab will reduce trial costs.
Police Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly said: "It's the type of thing you find the money for if it works. It would be tremendously cost-effective. It's really tough to make a burglary arrest."
Experts disagree as to the admissibility of low copy analysis as courtroom evidence. Mechthild Prinz, an assistant director in charge of the new lab, said that because the samples will be destroyed in testing, there will be no way to allow defense lawyers to conduct their own tests. Then there is secondary transfer: for example, a thief robs a house after shaking hands with a friend and leaves the friend's DNA signature at the scene.
Those considerations, some experts said, are likely to affect the weight jurors give to the test results more than their admissibility. Lisa Friel, chief of the Sex Crimes Prosecution Unit of the Manhattan district attorney's office, said the tests can be used, among other things, to exclude the innocent, and can also help solve violent crimes, such as a rape where the suspect wears a condom. She said the fact that a sample is used up in testing does not disqualify the results in court.
"If it's a choice between that or people who saw somebody fleeing, I'd rather have DNA evidence," Ms. Friel said.
DNA collected from handled objects has already been used to help solve crimes in New York, she said, giving the example of a suspect identified by DNA taken from the bridge of his glasses, which he had left at the scene. The suspect, John Ramos, pleaded guilty to burglary and attempted rape last week and was sentenced to 20 years in prison.
Low copy analysis presents significant challenges, beginning with the crime scene itself. Investigators must try to swab areas that only the suspect would have touched, like a discarded tool or a jewelry box. In some cases, victims will be asked to provide "elimination samples" of their own DNA. "Let's face it," said Mark Dale, the director of the Police Department's crime lab,, "this is invisible evidence."
Because of the sample's small size, preventing contamination is a high priority. The high-sensitivity lab is a series of rooms connected by antiseptic glass cabinets or evidence pass-throughs. Test tubes will be irradiated to destroy stray chromosomes (sterilization guards against only bacteria). Legal releases are being drawn up so that DNA elimination samples can be taken from the housecleaning staff.
The DNA will be amplified, or copied, in cycles, just as it is in conventional testing. While conventional testing generally calls for 28 cycles, low copy testing will require at least 32 cycles, Dr. Prinz said. With each cycle, the DNA can lose fidelity, just like a photocopy of a photocopy, a major reason that low copy is considered less reliable.
If the lab succeeds, it is likely to go a long way toward setting new evidence standards for the country.
"Ultimately, the proof is going to be in the product," said Mr. Wickenheiser. "When they show what they can do, and people look at it and say, `Gosh, we ought to be doing that.' "
Forensic science PING
You say, "Interesting foray." I say, "END THE MATRIX!" When we finally learn, it will be too late.
Note to self: Don't leave any smudges!
Promoting Partnerships for Public Safety
DNA Training and Technical Assistance
Prosecutors must meet the ever-changing challenges of maximizing use of DNA evidence. With grant funds provided by BJA, the American Prosecutors Research Institute’s (APRI’s) DNA Forensics Program has become the leading source of information and assistance for the nation’s prosecutors, providing services in three basic areas: training, technical assistance, and resource materials.
In FY 2002, APRI facilitated a number of training programs for prosecutors and related criminal justice professionals. Fifty-five prosecutors attended the basic course, DNA: Witness to the Truth—Basic Techniques in Forensic DNA Evidence, in Fort Lauderdale, Florida in September 2002. The curriculum included the basic science of DNA, basic statistics, admissibility, discovery, postconviction case review, and a tour of the nearby DNA laboratory.
APRI also presented both basic and advanced DNA courses in conjunction with the National District Attorneys Association at the National Advocacy Center in Columbia, South Carolina. Forty-five prosecutors attended each course. The advanced course, Advanced Training in DNA for Prosecutors, featured trial advocacy segments that enhanced the ability of prosecutors to use DNA evidence effectively in the courtroom.
The DNA Forensics Program responded to 254 requests for assistance in FY 2002. Technical assistance consisted of legal research and analysis of cases and statutes, scientific literature reviews, information about DNA expert witnesses, and case-specific strategic assistance. Also, presentations on DNA topics were made in conjunction with state prosecutor coordinator organizations and national law enforcement organizations.
As a result of these and other efforts, prosecutors have been better prepared to use DNA evidence both at the pretrial stage and in the courtroom. APRI is poised to facilitate implementation of President Bush’s proposed initiative, Advancing Justice Through DNA Technology, by providing much needed training and technical assistance to the nation’s local and state prosecutors.
ADVANCING JUSTICE THROUGH DNA TECHNOLOGY
The President’s DNA Initiative, Advancing Justice Through DNA Technology, calls for $232.6 million in federal funding for FY 2004. This includes $100.7 million in new funding. In addition, as part of the $232.6 million, the Justice Department is targeting $13.5 million in FY 2004 funding from existing programs within the Office of Justice Programs to support the DNA Initiative.*
DNA evidence exists. It's reliable if done right. And burglaries might get solved in NYC. That's pretty amazing.
I'd hope that it would take more than just one of these smudges to convict a thief, i.e. something like finding the stolen property itself, or other things linking the suspect to the scene of the crime. As something to generate probable cause for an arrest, search, and other investigation I could see it, but not of itself to prove guilt "beyond a reasonable doubt."
Houston Police DNA lab woes result in re-examination of 525 cases
"One man who had been sent to prison for rape has already been released because DNA evidence against him was wrong, and more cases are still in the testing stage. Prosecutors have flagged 62 more cases for retesting, including those of 17 death row inmates, though none of the 68 cases of inmates already executed were found to have involved DNA work at the lab.
Questions about testimony and lab work have been raised in other states as well.
In Oklahoma City, a chemist was fired two years ago after an FBI report claimed she did poor work and provided false or misleading testimony. She denies the allegations and is suing to get her job back. In Montana, work of the state crime lab's former director is being investigated because of the exoneration of a man convicted of rape."
Making no comment on the larger picture, I read somewhere that a single DNA test costs $30,000, as I recall.
marking.
IIRC, I read numbers of about $7,000 - $8,000 for an inmate to prove exoneration by eliminating their DNA from what was collected at the crime scene. In many cases, it is a two step procedure. If necessary, the first step involves the polymerase chain reaction(PCR) which makes more copies of any DNA that is available. Unfortunately, it may involve tampering with all available original evidence. The second part actually makes the genetic matches or lack thereof. I have more of the subject to study.
Thanks for the links.
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