title: Establishing the robustness of short-tandem-repeat statistics for forensic applications.
abstract: Before the introduction of a four-locus multiplex short-tandem-repeat (STR) system into casework, an extensive series of tests were carried out to determine robust procedures for assessing the evidential value of a match between crime and suspect samples. Twelve databases were analyzed from the three main ethnic groups encountered in casework in the United Kingdom: Caucasians, Afro-Caribbeans, and Asians from the Indian subcontinent. Independence tests resulted in a number of significant results, and the impact that these might have on forensic casework was investigated. It is demonstrated that previously published methods provide a simple procedure for correcting allele frequencies--and that this leads to conservative casework estimates of evidential value.
authors.affiliation: Forensic Science Service, Birmingham, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: I W
authors.initials: IW
authors.lastname: Evett
authors.forename: P D
authors.initials: PD
authors.lastname: Gill
authors.forename: J K
authors.initials: JK
authors.lastname: Scrange
authors.forename: B S
authors.initials: BS
authors.lastname: Weir
mesh_terms: D000483:Alleles; D044466:Asian People / Q000235:genetics; D044383:Black People / Q000235:genetics; D016172:DNA Fingerprinting / Q000379:methods*; D017931:DNA Primers / Q000235:genetics; D016208:Databases, Factual; D005006:Ethnicity / Q000235:genetics; D005453:Fluorescence; D005554:Forensic Medicine / Q000379:methods*; D018740:Genetic Heterogeneity; D005819:Genetic Markers / Q000235:genetics; D005838:Genotype; D006579:Heterozygote; D006801:Humans; D016013:Likelihood Functions; D012091:Repetitive Sequences, Nucleic Acid / Q000235:genetics*; D044465:White People / Q000235:genetics
chemical_list: D017931:DNA Primers; D005819:Genetic Markers