Meta-analysis of the secondary transfer of DNA

ABSTRACT

The secondary transfer of DNA has become an increasingly common scenario, allowing an individual’s DNA to exist at a crime scene when they were not present. With an increase of knowledge, it has become more common in the court system where defendants rely on the possibility of indirect transfer as an explanation for the presence of their DNA. This paper aims to provide a brief review into the secondary transfer of DNA and the performance of a meta-analysis to produce an appropriate and concise guide that could determine the probability of a secondary transfer event occurring and what conditions are required, aiding biologists in expert testimony. Four-hundred and ten articles went through a two-step screening process using a set of inclusion and exclusion criteria to determine their suitability for a meta-analysis. A final 38 articles underwent data extraction, which was able to be carried out to some degree. However, due to a lack of quantitative variables and available results, the data were unable to be collated into a table and a meta-analysis carried out. In order for analyses like this to be done in the future it is suggested that authors establish benchmarks for analyses to ensure that results are comparable across studies.

KEYWORDS:

• DNA transfer
• secondary transfer
• indirect transfer
• meta-analysis

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.