DNA Quality Assurance StandardsA Historical Perspective

DNA Quality Assurance Standards

Publications•Quality Assurance Standards for Forensic DNA Testing Laboratories, Forensic Science Communications, July 2000   Volume 2   Number 3. http://www.fbi.gov/hq/lab/fsc/backissu/july2000/codis2a.htm

•Quality Assurance Standards for Forensic DNA Testing Laboratories and for Convicted Offender DNA Databasing Laboratories, Forensic Science Communications, July 2000   Volume 2   Number 3. http://www.fbi.gov/hq/lab/fsc/backissu/july2000/codispre.htm

•Quality Assurance Standards for Convicted Offender DNA Databasing Laboratories, Forensic Science Communications, July 2000   Volume 2   Number 3. http://www.fbi.gov/hq/lab/fsc/backissu/july2000/codis1a.htm

•Quality Assurance Audit for Forensic DNA and Convicted Offender DNA Databasing Laboratories in Accordance with the Quality Assurance Standards for Forensic DNA Testing Laboratories and Convicted Offender DNA Databasing Laboratories issued by the Director, Forensic Science Communications, January 2001, Volume 3, Number. http://www.fbi.gov/hq/lab/fsc/backissu/jan2001/dnaaudit.htm

Quality Assurance Standards (QAS)

• Quality Assurance Standards were established by the DNA Advisory Board in 1998 and 1999.

– Forensic DNA Testing standards were effective on October 1, 1998.

– Convicted Offender DNA Databasing standards were effective on April 1, 1999.

History-TWGDAM• The Technical Working Group on

DNA Analysis Methods (TWGDAM) was established by the FBI in 1988

– The group brought together scientists from state, local, and federal laboratories and the academic community to address how DNA technology would be implemented.

TWGDAM– One of TWGDAM's first tasks was to establish quality

assurance guidelines, which were published in 1989 and later updated in 1991 and 1995, respectively.

• Technical Working Group on DNA Analysis Methods,

"Guidelines for a quality assurance program for DNA restriction fragment length polymorphism analysis," Crime Laboratory Digest, Vol. 16, 1989, pp. 40-59.

• Technical Working Group on DNA Analysis Methods,

"Guidelines for a quality assurance program for DNA analysis," Crime Laboratory Digest, Vol. 18, 1991, pp. 44 75.

• Technical Working Group on DNA Analysis Methods, "Guidelines for a quality assurance program for DNA analysis," Crime Laboratory Digest, Vol. 22, 1995, pp. 21-43.

TWGDAM• Courts often relied on these in making

admissibility decisions.

• Members were selected by the FBI

• Meeting were generally held twice per year

• TWGDAM was renamed SWGDAM (Scientific Working Group on DNA Analysis Methods) in January 1999

NCR Report I• In 1992, the National Research Council

(NRC) issued a report entitled DNA Technology in Forensic Science in attempt to:

– explain the basics of the relevant science and technology

– offer suggestions for improving forensic DNA testing and its use in law enforcement

– quiet the controversy that followed the introduction of DNA profiling in court

NRC I

• The first NRC report was met with intense controversy from scientists and lawyers

– primarily due to the recommendations on statistical interpretation of RFLP (restriction fragment length polymorphism) DNA technology

NRC II

• A second NRC committee was formed to update and clarify the discussion of the principle of population genetics and statistics as they apply to DNA evidence

NRC II• The second report was issued in 1996

• The report helped to dispel statistical debates

• Some recommendations from the NRC II report aided in the development of the QAS

• Courts relied upon the contents of this report

DNA Identification Act-1994• The DNA Identification Act of

1994 (contained within the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994) provided the statutory authority for creation of the National DNA Index System (NDIS) and specified the type of data that could be included in this national index.

DNA Identification Act and NDIS

Only the following types of DNA data may be stored in the national index administered by the FBI Director:– DNA identification records of persons

convicted of crimes; – analyses of DNA samples recovered

from crime scenes; – analyses of DNA samples recovered

from unidentified human remains; and – analyses of DNA samples voluntarily

contributed from relatives of missing persons.

Standards

• The DNA Identification Act of 1994 stated that the guidelines issued by TWGDAM would be deemed to be national standards until the office of the FBI directors issued its own quality assurance standards based on the recommendation of the DNA Advisory Board.

DNA Identification Act

• Laboratories were required to comply with the National QAS if

– Receiving funding pursuant to this Act

– Participating in NDIS

DNA Advisory Board (DAB)• Mandated by the DNA Identification Act of 1994

• First meeting held in May 1995

• Created for a 5-year time-frame to issue standards for forensic DNA analysis (disbanded in the end of 2000)

• The Board recommended separate documents detailing quality assurance standards for both forensic and databasing laboratories

Other DAB Publications• Statistical and Population Genetics Issues

Affecting the Evaluation of the Frequency of Occurrence of DNA Profiles Calculated From Pertinent Population Database(s) by the DNA Advisory Board, Forensic Science on February 23, 2000 Communications, July 2000, Volume 2, Number 3 http://www.fbi.gov/hq/lab/fsc/backissu/july2000/dnastat.htm

Following the QAS• The National DNA Index System, added

further requirements for DNA laboratories that wish to enter data into the national DNA database

– These laboratories must demonstrate compliance with the QAS. Typically, documentation of a laboratory's compliance with a stated standard has been measured through an audit process. Such audits have been performed by forensic scientists, either internal or external to the laboratory, and serve to identify compliance with established standards.

DAB

• Once the DNA Advisory Board was dissolved in 2000, the SWGDAM was given the responsibility for recommending revisions to the QAS to the FBI Director, as necessary.

• SWGDAM is also responsible for recommending changes to the audit document

QAS Audit Document

• First issued in 2001

• Revised in July 2004

President’s DNA Initiative• Announced by the Attorney General

in March 2003

– NIJ: added a requirement for laboratory accreditation/certification as part of its FY 2004 awards and will continued this requirement in FY 2005 awards.

SWGDAM Publications• Training Guidelines by the Scientific Working Group on

DNA Analysis Methods (SWGDAM) January 23, 2001, Forensic Science Communications, October 2001, Volume 3, Number 4 http://www.fbi.gov/hq/lab/fsc/backissu/oct2001/kzinski.htm

• Short Tandem Repeat (STR) Interpretation Guidelines by the Scientific Working Group on DNA Analysis Methods (SWGDAM), Forensic Science Communications, July 2000, Volume 2, Number 3 http://www.fbi.gov/hq/lab/fsc/backissu/july2000/strig.htm

• Revised Validation Guidelines by the Scientific Working Group on DNA Analysis Methods (SWGDAM), July 2004, Volume 6, Number 3 http://www.fbi.gov/hq/lab/fsc/backissu/july2004/standards/2004_03_standards02.htm