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A crucial point is made here about the DNA profiling results not answering the questions about how and when the DNA was deposited. Streamlined forensic reporting and the pressure on the forensic providers to cut turnaround times and costs often means that these aspects either aren’t covered in an expert’s report, or are merely mentioned in a generic technical paragraph about DNA transfer. The concern is that this leaves the court to draw uninformed and erroneous conclusions.

With the introduction of DNA17, which has been designed to be more sensitive than the previous technique, the relevance of much of the published work about DNA transfer comes into question. Expert advice has never been more vital. There’s more about the issues with DNA17 in our guide for lawyers: http://www.forensiccontext.com/newsandviews/