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Sexual Assault: Obtaining DNA From Evidence Collected up to a Week Later

Speakers
Moderator: Lois Tully, Ph.D., Deputy Chief, Investigative and Forensic Sciences Division, Office of Science and Technology, National Institute of Justice, U.S. Department of Justice; Jack Ballantyne, Ph.D., Professor of Chemistry, University of Central Florida, and Associate Director of Research, National Center for Forensic Science, Orlando, Fla.; Patricia M. Speck, DNSc, Assistant Professor and Public Health Option Coordinator, College of Nursing, University of Tennessee Health Science Center, Memphis; Mechthild Prinz, Ph.D., Director, Department of Forensic Biology, Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, New York, N.Y.

Technological advances have made it possible to detect male DNA in evidentiary samples collected several days after a sexual act has taken place. Panelists will present the research that has led to these findings, followed by a discussion of the potential impact of this work from the perspectives of the sexual assault nurse examiner (SANE) and the crime laboratory communities.

Date Published: June 1, 2009