{"id":200583,"date":"2021-03-12T17:00:35","date_gmt":"2021-03-12T14:00:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/powerful-dna-software-used-in-hundreds-of-criminal-cases-faces-new-scrutiny\/"},"modified":"2021-03-12T17:00:35","modified_gmt":"2021-03-12T14:00:35","slug":"powerful-dna-software-used-in-hundreds-of-criminal-cases-faces-new-scrutiny","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/powerful-dna-software-used-in-hundreds-of-criminal-cases-faces-new-scrutiny\/","title":{"rendered":"#Powerful DNA software used in hundreds of criminal cases faces new scrutiny"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_85 counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-custom ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title\" style=\"cursor:inherit\">Table of Contents<\/p>\n<label for=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-6a413bc307c4c\" class=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-label\"><span class=\"\"><span class=\"eztoc-hide\" style=\"display:none;\">Toggle<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-icon-toggle-span\"><svg style=\"fill: #dd3333;color:#dd3333\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"list-377408\" width=\"20px\" height=\"20px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"M6 6H4v2h2V6zm14 0H8v2h12V6zM4 11h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2zM4 16h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2z\" fill=\"currentColor\"><\/path><\/svg><svg style=\"fill: #dd3333;color:#dd3333\" class=\"arrow-unsorted-368013\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"10px\" height=\"10px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.2\" baseProfile=\"tiny\"><path d=\"M18.2 9.3l-6.2-6.3-6.2 6.3c-.2.2-.3.4-.3.7s.1.5.3.7c.2.2.4.3.7.3h11c.3 0 .5-.1.7-.3.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7zM5.8 14.7l6.2 6.3 6.2-6.3c.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7c-.2-.2-.4-.3-.7-.3h-11c-.3 0-.5.1-.7.3-.2.2-.3.5-.3.7s.1.5.3.7z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/label><input type=\"checkbox\"  id=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-6a413bc307c4c\" checked aria-label=\"Toggle\" \/><nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 ' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/powerful-dna-software-used-in-hundreds-of-criminal-cases-faces-new-scrutiny\/#The_softwares_lack_of_scrutiny\" >The software\u2019s lack of scrutiny<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-2\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/powerful-dna-software-used-in-hundreds-of-criminal-cases-faces-new-scrutiny\/#The_competitors\" >The competitors<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n<p>&#8220;<strong>#Powerful DNA software used in hundreds of criminal cases faces new scrutiny<\/strong>&#8221;<br \/>\n<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn0.tnwcdn.com\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/1\/files\/2021\/03\/1-copy-20-796x417.jpg\" \/><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>DNA has been considered the gold standard of forensic evidence for more than 30 years, even as various types of junk <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/sciencee\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"5\" title=\"Science\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">science<\/a> have fallen out of use. But in recent years, police and crime labs have stretched and expanded how they use genetic material to pin suspects\u2014from t<a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/download-scripts-themes-apps\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"9\" title=\"Download Scripts &amp; Themes &amp; Apps\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">app<\/a>ing into private <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/themarkup.org\/ask-the-markup\/2020\/02\/25\/dna-testing-kit\">ancestry websites<\/a> to creating <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/slate.com\/technology\/2019\/07\/parabon-nanolabs-genetic-genealogy-phenotyping.html\">police sketches<\/a> of suspects\u2019 faces.<\/p>\n<p>The latest practice to come under scrutiny is an obscure technique, \u201c<a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.propublica.org\/article\/where-traditional-dna-testing-fails-algorithms-take-over\">probabilistic genotyping<\/a>,\u201d that takes incomplete or otherwise inscrutable DNA left behind at a crime scene, often in minuscule amounts, and runs it through a software program that calculates how likely it is to have come from a particular person. One such program, <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.cybgen.com\/\">TrueAllele<\/a>, has been used in more than <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/beta.documentcloud.org\/documents\/20493392-usa-v-ellis-47-govs-motion-to-quash-subpoena-6-16-20\">850 criminal cases<\/a> over the past 20 years. The problem? No one knows whether it works\u2014the code, developed by a private company called Cybergenetics, is proprietary.<\/p>\n<p>Government crime labs that use the software <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/beta.documentcloud.org\/documents\/20493392-usa-v-ellis-47-govs-motion-to-quash-subpoena-6-16-20\">don\u2019t get access<\/a> to the program\u2019s source code. Employees of Cybergenetics don\u2019t get access. Even the authors of the <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.cybgen.com\/information\/publication\/page.shtml\">peer-reviewed studies<\/a> of TrueAllele have never had access to the code.<\/p>\n<p>But now, two criminal cases\u2014one in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania and another in the Appellate Division of the Superior Court of New Jersey\u2014 may give the world a first peek into TrueAllele\u2019s secretive algorithm. Last month, the New Jersey judge <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/beta.documentcloud.org\/documents\/20493205-nj-v-pickett-judges-decision-about-ta-source-code-access-2-3-21\">ordered prosecutors<\/a> to hand over the source code for TrueAllele, and a few weeks later, the federal judge in Pennsylvania <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/beta.documentcloud.org\/documents\/20493219-usa-v-ellis-138-judges-order-re-disclosing-source-code-2-26-21\">did the same<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Experts say the program is so complex and so hidden from scrutiny that software bugs are inevitable.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt is virtually certain that there are flaws in the TrueAllele software,\u201d wrote Mats Heimdahl and Jeanna Matthews, two computer science experts, in a <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/beta.documentcloud.org\/documents\/20493426-usa-v-ellis-135-declaration-of-heimdahl-and-matthews-2-22-21\">declaration<\/a> to the federal court. \u201cOn average, there will be six flaws for every 1,000 lines of code, and TrueAllele has 170,000 lines of code.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>While the orders do not make the source code publicly available, they allow the defense\u00a0 to bring in experts to examine the software for potential flaws and inconsistencies\u2014under strict nondisclosure agreements. Should the experts find any problems, the defense attorneys could try to get the DNA evidence thrown out, weakening the cases against their clients and potentially leading to a larger reckoning for TrueAllele.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><i>[Read:\u00a0<\/i><span class=\"s1\"><i>How do you build a pet-friendly gadget? We asked experts and animal owners<\/i><\/span><i>]<\/i><\/p>\n<p>The software program\u2019s workings are far more complex and difficult to reproduce than the traditional process of DNA testing, which matches a suspect to a robust type of evidence, like blood.<\/p>\n<p>TrueAllele doesn\u2019t <em>match<\/em> a suspect to physical evidence; it calculates the statistical <em>likelihood<\/em> that a person\u2019s DNA is present in a complicated mixture of multiple people\u2019s DNA, or in a minuscule amount of DNA left behind\u2014for instance, after someone merely touched something.<\/p>\n<p>In the Pennsylvania case, federal prosecutors used the software to parse a complicated mixture of DNA found on a handgun left in a car\u2014and specifically, to calculate the likelihood that any of it belonged to a Pittsburgh man named <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/beta.documentcloud.org\/documents\/20493392-usa-v-ellis-47-govs-motion-to-quash-subpoena-6-16-20\">Lafon Ellis<\/a>. Cybergenetics experts <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/beta.documentcloud.org\/documents\/20498438-usa-v-ellis-108-4-cybergenetics-evidence-powerpoint-10-14-20\">testified<\/a> that the sample likely contained DNA from four people and that it was \u201c21.4 trillion times more probable\u201d that Ellis\u2019s DNA was in the mix than another, random African American person\u2019s. Ellis\u2019s attorney, however, says the gun isn\u2019t Ellis\u2019s and disputes the DNA evidence connecting him to it.<\/p>\n<p>In addition to prosecutors, <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.cybgen.com\/services\/defense\/page.shtml\">defense teams<\/a> have also used the software to help prove their clients\u2019 innocence at trial or <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.cybgen.com\/news\/exoneration\/page.shtml\">exonerate<\/a> them later. Cybergenetics has made the program available to either side in any case for testing.<\/p>\n<p>According to Cybergenetics, TrueAllele\u2019s calculations have already been admitted into evidence in <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.cybgen.com\/information\/admissibility\/page.shtml\">14\u00a0states<\/a>, with 20 unsuccessful attempts in recent years by criminal defense teams to gain access to the program\u2019s source code. Prosecutors have long argued that the program was built on widely accepted mathematical concepts and that opening up its source code to public scrutiny would threaten the company\u2019s trade secrets.<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"The_softwares_lack_of_scrutiny\"><\/span>The software\u2019s lack of scrutiny<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>But experts and civil rights advocates have long been concerned about the lack of scrutiny of the software. Their arguments may be gaining traction, as evidenced by the two rulings last month.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOur justice system cannot permit convictions based on secret evidence,\u201d wrote the Electronic Frontier Foundation and the American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania in an <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/beta.documentcloud.org\/documents\/20494545-usa-v-ellis-78-eff-aclu-amicus-brief-7-24-20\">amicus brief<\/a> to the federal court. \u201cThere is a long history of junk science employed under the guise of technological advancement in criminal cases\u2014and of public access to and analysis of such evidence as the means to its eventual invalidation.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>From <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/30447642\/\">bite-mark pattern evidence<\/a> to <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/features.propublica.org\/blood-spatter\/joe-bryan-conviction-blood-spatter-forensic-evidence\/\">blood-spatter analysis,<\/a> and even <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nap.edu\/catalog\/10924\/forensic-analysis-weighing-bullet-lead-evidence\">ballistics testing<\/a> and <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.cmu.edu\/dietrich\/news\/news-stories\/2017\/october\/aaas-fingerprint-report.html\">fingerprint matching<\/a>\u2014many forensic methods that were once commonplace in crime labs and courts have later been questioned or even totally debunked after facing outside scrutiny.<\/p>\n<p>Life-or-death software programs\u2014like those used in medical equipment or airplanes\u2014must undergo independent validation and verification processes, but not so DNA software. There are few federal regulations about how police or crime labs introduce new technologies and methods into crime-solving. Every state has its own rules about how a new type of forensic <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/technology\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"4\" title=\"Technology\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">technology<\/a> gets approved for use, and judges tend to follow prior decisions when deciding whether or not to allow new scientific techniques into evidence.<\/p>\n<p>Reviewing TrueAllele will likely be complicated\u2014its <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/beta.documentcloud.org\/documents\/20493392-usa-v-ellis-47-govs-motion-to-quash-subpoena-6-16-20\">inventor estimates doing so<\/a> would take a person, reading 10 lines of code an hour, about eight and a half years to complete (which defense attorneys dispute)\u2014and how to go about it has been another source of friction between prosecutors and defense attorneys.<\/p>\n<p>Originally, defense teams in the two cases were surprised to learn their access to the source code would be restricted to a read-only iPad and that they would be allowed to use only a pen and paper to take notes. They have since lobbied for and won access to an electronic copy they can run and test themselves.<\/p>\n<p>Though TrueAllele has never faced scrutiny like this before, two of its competitors have.<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"The_competitors\"><\/span>The competitors<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>When a federal judge of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York ordered source-code access to New York City\u2019s proprietary DNA analysis software Forensic Statistical Tool (FST) in 2016, the examination <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.propublica.org\/article\/thousands-of-criminal-cases-in-new-york-relied-on-disputed-dna-testing-techniques\">revealed a serious flaw<\/a> that \u201c<a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/beta.documentcloud.org\/documents\/20493446-lacambra-matthews-walsh-the-champion-opening-the-black-box-oct-2018\">tend[ed] to overestimate the likelihood of guilt<\/a>.\u201d The judge in that case eventually lifted the protective order on the software, and ProPublica <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.propublica.org\/article\/federal-judge-unseals-new-york-crime-labs-software-for-analyzing-dna-evidence\">obtained the code<\/a> and <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/github.com\/propublica\/nyc-dna-software\">published it on GitHub<\/a>, allowing researchers and the <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/general\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"3\" title=\"General\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">general<\/a> public to scrutinize it themselves.<\/p>\n<p>The New York City Office of Chief Medical Examiner replaced FST with STRmix, a widely used competitor to TrueAllele. It so happens that the makers of STRmix have <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.couriermail.com.au\/news\/queensland\/queensland-authorities-confirm-miscode-affects-dna-evidence-in-criminal-cases\/news-story\/833c580d3f1c59039efd1a2ef55af92b\">also acknowledged software bugs<\/a> that affected 60\u00a0cases in Australia.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSoftware errors are common and forensic software has no special immunity from the bugs and mistakes that plague software in other fields,\u201d wrote Khasha Attaran, the assistant federal public defender representing Ellis, in an emailed statement. \u201cConstitutional principles and fairness demand access because an accused must be allowed to examine and challenge the accuracy of <span style=\"background-color: rgba(46, 146, 255, 0.2);\">software-generated<\/span>\u00a0evidence relied on by the federal government.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The federal prosecutors may appeal the decision to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit but haven\u2019t indicated yet whether or not they will. The New Jersey case may head to the state\u2019s Supreme Court. The U.S. Attorney\u2019s office prosecuting the Ellis case for the Western District of Pennsylvania and the Hudson County Prosecutor\u2019s Office, which brought the case in New Jersey, both declined to comment on ongoing cases, as did Mark Perlin, the founder of Cybergenetics and TrueAllele\u2019s inventor.<\/p>\n<p><em>This article was <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/themarkup.org\/news\/2021\/03\/09\/powerful-dna-software-used-in-hundreds-of-criminal-cases-faces-new-scrutiny\">originally published on The Markup<\/a> and was republished under the <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-nc-nd\/4.0\/\">Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives<\/a><a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"> license.<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<blockquote><p><strong><span style=\"color: #ff6600;\">If you liked the article, do not forget to share it with your friends. Follow us on\u00a0<span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><a style=\"color: #ff0000;\" href=\"https:\/\/news.google.com\/publications\/CAAqBwgKMLG0nwswvr63Aw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\">Google News<\/a><\/span>\u00a0too, click on the star and choose us from your favorites.<\/span><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">For forums sites go to <span style=\"color: #ff9900;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/forum.buradabiliyorum.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Forum.BuradaBiliyorum.Com<\/a><\/span><\/strong>\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>If you want to read more like this article, you can visit our <span style=\"color: #ff9900;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/technology\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Technology category.<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"color: black;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/thenextweb.com\/tech\/2021\/03\/12\/dna-software-for-criminal-cases-new-scrutiny-syndication\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Source<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;#Powerful DNA software used in hundreds of criminal cases faces new scrutiny&#8221; DNA has been considered the gold standard of forensic evidence for more than 30 years, even as various types of junk science have fallen out of use. But in recent years, police and crime labs have stretched and expanded how they use genetic&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":200584,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/img-cdn.tnwcdn.com\/image\/tnw?filter_last=1&fit=1280,640&url=https:\/\/cdn0.tnwcdn.com\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/1\/files\/2021\/03\/1-copy-20.jpg&signature=a36ca12e123ccee9228c81ddc6dd00f6","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[75257,70508,34286,70759],"class_list":["post-200583","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-technology","tag-computer-science","tag-dna","tag-software","tag-tech"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/200583","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=200583"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/200583\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/200584"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=200583"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=200583"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=200583"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}