A Guide to Forensic DNA Profiling

The increasingly arcane world of DNA profiling demands that those requiring to understand at least some of it must find a source of reliable and understandable information. Combining material from the successful Wiley Encyclopedia of Forensic Science with newly commissioned and updated material, the Editors have used their own extensive experience in criminal casework across the world to compile an informative guide that will provide knowledge and thought-provoking articles of interest to anyone involved or interested in the use of DNA in the forensic context.

Following extensive introductory chapters covering forensic DNA profiling and forensic genetics, this comprehensive volume presents a substantial breadth of material covering:

• Fundamental material--including sources of DNA, validation, and accreditation
• Analysis and interpretation--including extraction, quantification, amplification, and interpretation of electropherograms (epgs)
• Evaluation--including mixtures, low template, and transfer
• Applications--databases, paternity and kinship, mitochondrial DNA, wildlife DNA, single-nucleotide polymorphism, phenotyping, and familial searching
• Court--report writing, discovery, cross examination, and current controversies

With contributions from leading experts across the whole gamut of forensic science, this volume is intended to be authoritative but not authoritarian, informative but comprehensible, and comprehensive but concise. It will prove to be a valuable addition, and a useful resource, for scientists, lawyers, teachers, criminologists, and judges.