DNA collection solve crimes, but damages privacy

Noreen Moustafa | Al Jazeera | February 26, 2014

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In this week’s episode of “TechKnow,” we highlight the latest advances in forensic technology that are helping law enforcement agencies identify suspects and solve crimes with increasing accuracy. Cases that were left cold for years are being revisited with fresh eyes—and, more importantly, fresh technology. Where we have seen some of the largest leaps in the past decade is in the analysis of contact trace DNA or “Touch DNA.” A person sheds about 400,000 skin cells per day, and with smaller and smaller samples required to make an accurate match, it is becoming more difficult to commit a truly untraceable crime.

But in order to match crimes up with criminals based on trace amounts of DNA, it also requires expanding and centralizing local, state, and national DNA databases used by law enforcement.