FBI Fights Testing For False DNA Matches 411
Statesman writes "The Los Angeles Times reports that an Arizona crime lab technician found two felons with remarkably similar genetic profiles, so similar that they would ordinarily be accepted in court as a match, but one felon was black and the other white. The FBI estimated the odds of unrelated people sharing those genetic markers to be as remote as 1 in 113 billion. Dozens of similar matches have been found, and these findings raise questions about the accuracy of the FBI's DNA statistics. Scientists and legal experts want to test the accuracy of official statistics using the nearly 6 million profiles in CODIS, the national system that includes most state and local databases. The FBI has tried to block distribution of the Arizona results and is blocking people from performing similar searches using CODIS. A legal fight is brewing over whether the nation's genetic databases ought to be opened to wider scrutiny. At stake is the credibility of the odds often cited in DNA cases, which can suggest an all but certain link between a suspect and a crime scene."
Re:well, well... (Score:5, Funny)
but one felon was black and the other white
Well according to statistics it was clearly the black one
(note to mods, this is a joke)
Re:well, well... (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Transparent government (Score:5, Funny)
Everything, I suppose, but your nic.
Re:You're all missing the point! (Score:4, Funny)
You're making the mistake that racists use logic.
They'd probably say the black guy stole the DNA.
Re:So, the 1:113 Billion estimate is wrong (Score:3, Funny)
What they're doing is an admission of guilt to anyone with three brain cells.
Not a problem when their jurisdiction is composed of citizens with an average of 2.71828 brain cells.
Re:well, well... (Score:5, Funny)
white guy: "I'm sparticus!"
white guy: "I'm sparticus!"
white guy: "I'm sparticus!"
white guy: "I'm sparticus!"
white guy: "I'm sparticus!"
black guy: "I'm sparticus!"
police officer: "That's the one, crucify him"
*How spartacus would have ended if the Romans were the LAPD*
Irrelevant (Score:4, Funny)
And this is relevant how? You've already told us they were distinct people, this doesn't make them more distinct.