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Principles of Forensic DNA for Officers of the Court

Statistical Interpretation of the Evidence (cont.)

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In a given population, any particular 20-locus short tandem repeat (STR) profile is rare because there are many distinct alleles at each of these STR loci. Therefore, it is possible to distinguish between individuals.

Practical issues (e.g., small amounts of DNA) can limit the ability to obtain results; nonetheless, it is still possible to distinguish between individuals.

For more information on practical issues affecting DNA evidence see Module 3.

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