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Dr Robin Cotton and Dr Andy Hopwood discuss solving crimes using a DNA database

Dr Robin Cotton and Dr Andy Hopwood discuss solving crimes using a DNA database Get QuickTime - Free download
Clip 14
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Transcript

Robin:
Definitely, because all these crimes that have been solved with DNA, which have been a lot – most of those wouldn't have been solved without it. But I don't know how to put any number to that.

Andy:
Well, I guess I can give you a bit of an example. We've got the DNA database, the national DNA database, in the UK. If we take a sample from a crime scene we've got a 40 percent chance, so four out of 10 of those samples will match on the database and that gives us a name that we can give to the police and they can go and question those suspects.

So it allows us to identify the possible suspect a lot quicker. It also acts as a bit of a deterrent as well. Once people know how the database works, they tend to, I guess, hold back a little bit, if you like.


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