NACDL - Recommendations from Forensic DNA Interpretation and Human Factors [Engage & Exchange]

Recommendations from Forensic DNA Interpretation and Human Factors [Engage & Exchange]

Forensic DNA Interpretation and Human Factors: Improving the Practice Through a Systems Approach – This important report, the third in a series that includes previous reports in latent print examination and handwriting analysis, focuses on human factors in DNA analysis.

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In Spring 2024, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and the National Institute of Justice published the Expert Working Group on Human Factors in Forensic DNA Interpretation Forensic DNA Interpretation and Human Factors: Improving the Practice Through a Systems Approach. This important report, the third in a series that includes previous reports in latent print examination and handwriting analysis, focuses on human factors in DNA analysis — in other words, the interactions between individuals and all other elements of a system, among technology, training, products, procedures, workspaces, the overall environment, resources, and institutional culture.

This report includes critical recommendations regarding testimony on transfer and persistence, cognitive bias, transparency, language to be used or avoided by analysts in reporting and testimony, and other areas key to defense practice in DNA cases. Clinton Hughes, a veteran public defender and DNA litigation specialist, was also a member of the expert working group that drafted this report, and this presentation includes his insights on key recommendations and how the defense can make effective use of this major report.

Presented by Dana M. Delger, an attorney consultant to the Forensic Science Standards Program at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), and Clinton Hughes, Senior Forensic DNA Attorney with Brooklyn Defender Services (BDS)