Current Legal Issues of DNA Typing “Strange New World—Revisited”

Summary

According to the Frye Rule, the general scientific community decides when a scientific procedure is ready for the jury. Applying reasonable/reliability aspects of the McCormick Rule permits the legal community to decide when it is ready. Both tests are complicated legally by differences in opinion as to what issues relate to admissibility and what matters should be assessed by the jury. The U.S. National Academy of Science recommends that courts accept the reliability of DNA typing and recognize that current laboratory techniques are fundamentally sound. With respect to both U.S. and Canadian law, the author notes that courts will impose their own views over time as to how DNA typing should be carried out. Since DNA evidence is available, Canada's scientific and legal communities need to collaborate and report to Parliament on all forensic aspects of DNA typing. Defense challenges to DNA typing are examined, as well as related privacy issues.