Abstract

Wherever we go, we leave behind skin cells containing copies of our DNA molecule – unless we go forth hermetically sealed. This makes construction and maintenance of DNA identification databases enormously useful to crime investigators. DNA databases, linking numerical representations of a tiny portion of individuals' DNA with their names and other identifying information, are useful to identify suspects directly by matching DNA found at a crime scene with a DNA profile in a DNA identification database. They are useful indirectly too, because criminal investigations proceed by a process of elimination; and identifying the person whose DNA was found at a crime scene can make it unnecessary to continue investigating others. When the incriminating crime scene sample does not match the DNA of a “person of interest,” that person is freed from the hassles and risks of criminal investigation, including the risk of false conviction.