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The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has published DNA Mixture Interpretation: A Scientific Foundation Review. This report reviews the methods that forensic laboratories use to interpret evidence containing a mixture of DNA from two or more people.
NIST published a draft version of this report in June 2021 and invited public comment at that time. Sixty-three sets of comments spanning almost 450 pages were received and are available on the NIST website. The study authors considered all comments when preparing the final version of this report.
The new version considers several studies published since the draft report was released and includes updated data from DNA analyst proficiency tests and other sources. The preface of the report contains a list of significant revisions.
The report’s findings will be presented at major forensic science conferences in the coming year.
NIST scientific foundation reviews document and evaluate the scientific basis for forensic methods. These reviews fill a need identified in a landmark 2009 study by the National Academy of Sciences, which called for studies of this kind.