Forensic DNA Testing / Infidelity Testing
DNA identification is quickly becoming a crime solving tool. Law enforcement agencies have created a database of criminal offenders which they use to link criminals and suspects to unsolved crimes. All fifty U.S. states have passed laws which requires DNA profiling of some offenders. And law enforcement officials want to compile DNA profiles of everyone who is arrested. At the same time, defense attorneys are using DNA profile to challenge old convictions. With the advent of DNA testing, many, many former death row inmates and inmates charged with crimes such as rape or molestation have been freed using DNA technology. DNA evidence speaks for itself. DNA profiling also referred to as genetic fingerprinting evolved from a questionable forensic innovation to a powerful and widely accepted tool for identification in criminal investigations and prosecutions. DNA profiling was used in many cases in the U.S. to exonerate former defendants who were wrongfully convicted for crimes they never committed. DNA evidence is one of the most accurate technology of this century having the remarkable ability to exonerate innocent people while at the same time convict the guilty. DNA analysis is also being used on plants and animals, and is being touted as the greatest advancement in forensic science to date.
Employers and insurance companies could use this technology to uncover an employee’s predisposition to disease and use the information to exclude that person from employment or insurance coverage. The same biological sample used for DNA paternity analysis can likewise be used for other biological analysis of that person.
Because DNA is the building block from which all living things develop, variations in this sequence allow forensic DNA analysts to differentiate one person from another and one animal from another. In 1999, a jury convicted two people of harboring a vicious animal after the couple’s pit bull mauled their 74-year-old neighbor. Canine DNA extracted from saliva samples on the victim’s clothing matched the genetic profile of the accused couple’s dog.
Likewise, more and more people are requesting infidelity DNA testing which falls under the forensic DNA testing umbrella, of various items, from condoms to clothing to samples cut from items too large to send in to a lab for analysis. One only need call our labs to ensure that their unusual item can be tested. Analysis is fast and accurate, and if a comparison sample is sent in to our lab, we can tell whether the profile from the article or item of clothing matches the profile of the comparison sample On a recent intake call with a client she told us: “I don’t get mad, I use DNA testing”.
