Reply to Why isn’t dna collected when people die? Wouldn’t that solve a lot of unsolved crimes?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Anyone who thinks this is a good idea has a mid-aughts understanding of how DNA works. DNA science has evolved to the point where we can detect small amounts of DNA on basically everything. You are constantly leaving your DNA on surfaces, so the presence of a person's DNA at the scene of a crime isn't necessarily probative of anything.

I used to prosecute gun cases and we routinely DNA tested the guns. I can't recall a single instance where there was only one person's DNA on the gun. It was always a mixture.[/quote]

Couldn't you just arrest them all and charge them all? [/quote]

No. It isn't a crime to, at one point in time, touch a gun. Without knowing the circumstances under which they touched it, we have no reason whatsoever to believe that the person committed a crime. We also don't necessarily know whose DNA is in the mixture. We can identify that there is another contributor without knowing who the person is.

Imagine this scenario: a shooting occurs and the next day police arrest a suspect, who is found in possession of the same gun that was used in the shooting. The gun is swabbed for DNA and sent for analysis. The lab results show a mixture of three different people's DNA on the gun, including the suspect. How do we know that one of the other contributors was involved in the shooting? What if the DNA belongs to the clerk at the store where the shooter bought the gun? What if the shooter loaned the weapon to his brother or friend to use at a shooting range, and one of the contributors is the brother/friend? What if the DNA belongs to the shooter's child who touched the gun when it was left unsecured? [/quote]

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