Professor: 'Unanticipated Consequences' from Expanded DNA Reach
June 11, 2013
Contact: University Relations
Phone: 410.837.5739
Charles Tumosa, clinical assistant professor in the University of Baltimore's School of Criminal Justice and director of its B.S. in Forensic Studies program, is critical of the recent Supreme Court decision that allows warrantless law enforcement collection of DNA samples from suspects taken into custody before an arrest has been made.
"I worry that there will be unanticipated consequences in increasing the scope of the DNA database—there always are," Tumosa told Chemical & Engineering News. "Testing large numbers of samples always increases the possibility for errors."
Experts say the case, Maryland v. King, is expected to lead to a sharp increase in the amount of criminal justice work that involves DNA collection, matching, and so on. Along with it, Tumosa and others in the field believe, could come a higher rate of errors in DNA matching and more problems with contamination of evidence, sample processing, and other important matters on which criminal cases hinge.
Read the Chemical & Engineering article about Maryland v. King.
Learn more about Charles Tumosa.