DNA and the law

[Lady Jennifer]

Let's stay on topic please. Please do not accuse people of having multiple IDs on the forum. If you have real concerns please contact a moderator or a Admin by PM & do not bring it up in this or any thread.

Lady Jennifer
Russian Moderator

 

[J Kendrick]

So.... What are we all to make of this latest development in DNA research?

From the New York Times:

DNA Evidence Can Be Fabricated, Scientists Show

By Andrew Pollack
Published: August 17, 2009

Scientists in Israel have demonstrated that it is possible to fabricate DNA evidence, undermining the credibility of what has been considered the gold standard of proof in criminal cases.

The scientists fabricated blood and saliva samples containing DNA from a person other than the donor of the blood and saliva. They also showed that if they had access to a DNA profile in a database, they could construct a sample of DNA to match that profile without obtaining any tissue from that person.

“You can just engineer a crime scene,” said Dan Frumkin, lead author of the paper, which has been published online by the journal Forensic Science International: Genetics. “Any biology undergraduate could perform this.”...

See the complete article at:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/18/science/18dna.html?_r=2

 

[Anna was Franziska]

I expected one of you claimant supporters to grab onto this. However, you didn't understand the whole story. There are two reasons this does not mean a thing in the cases of our claimants:

1. It can't be fabricated unless you have the original there to copy, such as a person in custody, or a record of his DNA from a criminal database- the thing they are worried about is crooked police departments who have a suspect in custody taking DNA from him, duplicating it and planting it at the scene of the crime to frame him. You cannot duplicate what you do not already have.

2.Since no nuclear DNA samples existed from the children when they were alive to compare to the bones of the royal children, there is no way the DNA patterns found by the scientists in the bones could have been invented or made up. They can only be copied, such as from a database, and since there was nothing to copy, it couldn't have happened. Sorry.

Scientists in Israel prove DNA can be fabricated - 8/18/09 - San Francisco News - abc7news.com

There is a test that can be done which proves which DNA is real and which is faked so no one is ever going to be able to get away with it. The news story is about criminal cases only, there is nothing about identity or paternity.

 

[Warren]

Sorry guys, the torch for "Anna Anderson was Anastasia" has been well and truly extinguished and we are not going to reopen the subject.

Warren
TRF Administrator