Combined DNA Index System

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Concept.png Combined DNA Index System 
(surveillance database)Rdf-entity.pngRdf-icon.png
CODIS logo.png
Start1990
Founder(s)FBI
United States national DNA database created and maintained by the Federal Bureau of Investigation

The Combined DNA Index System (CODIS) is the United States national DNA database created and maintained by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. As of 2019, NDIS contained more than 14 million offender profiles, more than 4 million arrestee profiles and more than one million forensic profiles.

The CODIS software contains multiple different databases depending on the type of information being searched against. Examples of these databases include, missing persons, convicted offenders, and forensic samples collected from crime scenes. Each state, and the federal system, has different laws for collection, upload, and analysis of information contained within their database. However, for privacy reasons, the CODIS database does not contain any personal identifying information, such as the name associated with the DNA profile. The uploading agency is notified of any hits to their samples and are tasked with the dissemination of personal information pursuant to their laws.

Establishment

The creation of a national DNA database within the U.S. was first mentioned by the Technical Working Group on DNA Analysis Methods (TWGDAM) in 1989.[1] In 1990, the FBI began a pilot DNA databasing program with 14 state and local laboratories.[2] In 1994, Congress passed the DNA Identification Act which authorized the FBI to create a national DNA database of convicted offenders as well as separate databases for missing persons and forensic samples collected from crime scenes. The Act also required that laboratories participating in the CODIS program maintain accreditation from an independent nonprofit organization that is actively involved in the forensic fields and that scientists processing DNA samples for submission into CODIS maintain proficiency and are routinely tested to ensure the quality of the profiles being uploaded into the database.[3] The national level of CODIS (NDIS) was implemented in October 1998. Today, all 50 states, the District of Columbia, federal law enforcement, the Army Laboratory, and Puerto Rico participate in the national sharing of DNA profiles.[4]

Database structure

The CODIS database contains several different indexes for the storage of DNA profile information. For assistance in criminal investigations three indexes exist: the offender index, which contains DNA profiles of those convicted of crimes; the arrestee index, which contains profiles of those arrested of crimes pursuant to the laws of the particular state; and the forensic index, which contains profiles collected from a crime scene.[5] Additional indexes, such as the unidentified human remain index, the missing persons index, and the biological relatives of missing persons index, are used to assist in identifying missing persons.[5] Specialty indexes also exist for other specimens that do not fall into the other categories. These indexes include the staff index, for profiles of employees who work with the samples, and the multi-allelic offender index, for single-source samples that have three or more alleles at two or more loci.[6]

Non-criminal indexes

While CODIS is generally used for linking crimes to other crimes and potentially to suspects there are non-criminal portions of the database such as the missing person indexes. The National Missing Person DNA Database, also known as CODIS(mp), is maintained by the FBI at the NDIS level of CODIS allowing all states to share information with one another. Created in 2000 using the existing CODIS infrastructure, this section of the database is designed to help identify human remains by collecting and storing DNA information on the missing or the relatives of missing individuals.[7][8] Unidentified remains are processed for DNA by the University of North Texas Center for Human Identification which is funded by the National Institute of Justice.[9] Nuclear, Y-STR (for males only), and mitochondrial analysis can be performed on both unknown remains and on known relatives in order to maximize the chance of identifying remains.[7]

Statistics

As of 2019, NDIS contained more than 14 million offender profiles, more than 4 million arrestee profiles and more than one million forensic profiles.[10][11] The effectiveness of CODIS is measured by the number of investigations aided through database hits. As of September 2020, CODIS had aided in over 520 thousand investigations and produced more than 530 thousand hits.[10][11] Each state has their own SDIS database and each state can set their own inclusionary standards that can be less strict than the national level. For this reason, a number of profiles that are present in state level databases are not in the national database and are not routinely searched across state lines.[12]

International use

While the U.S. database is not directly connected to any other country, the underlying CODIS software is used by other agencies around the world. As of 2016, the CODIS software is used by 90 international laboratories in 50 countries.[2][13] International police agencies that want to search the U.S. database can submit a request to the FBI for review. If the request is reasonable and the profile being searched would meet inclusionary standards for a U.S. profile, such as number of loci, the request can be searched at the national level or forwarded to any states where reasonable suspicion exists that they may be present in that level of the database.[4]

Controversies

Arrestee collection

The original purpose of the CODIS database was to build upon the sex offender registry through the DNA collection of convicted sex offenders.[14] Over time, that has expanded. Currently, all 50 states collect DNA from those convicted of felonies. A number of states also collect samples from juveniles as well as those who are arrested, but not yet convicted, of a crime.[11][15] Note that even in states which limit collection of DNA retained in the state database only to those convicted of a crime, local databases, such as the forensic laboratory operated by New York City's Office of Chief Medical Examiner, may collect DNA samples of arrestees who have not been convicted. The collection of arrestee samples raised constitutional issues, specifically the Fourth Amendment prohibiting unreasonable search and seizure. It was argued that the collection of DNA from those that were not convicted of a crime, without an explicit order to collect, was considered a warrantless search and therefore unlawful.[16] In 2013, the United States Supreme Court ruled in Maryland v. King that the collection of DNA from those arrested for a crime, but not yet convicted, is part of the police booking procedure and is reasonable when that collection is used for identification purposes.[17]

Familial searching

The inheritance pattern of some DNA means that close relatives share a higher percentage of alleles between each other than with other, random, members of society.[18] This allows for the searching of close matches within CODIS when an exact match is not found. By focusing on close matches, investigators can potentially find a close relative whose profile is in CODIS narrowing their search to one specific family. Familial searching has led to several convictions after the exhaustion of all other leads including the Grim Sleeper serial killer.[19] This practice also raised Fourth Amendment challenges as the individual who ends up being charged with a crime was only implicated because someone else's DNA was in the CODIS database.[20] As of 2018, twelve states have approved the use of familial searching in CODIS.[21]

See also

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References

  1. ↑ https://www.promega.com/~/media/files/resources/conference%20proceedings/ishi%2002/oral%20presentations/17.pdf
  2. ↑ a b https://www.fbi.gov/services/laboratory/biometric-analysis/codis#CODIS-Overview
  3. ↑ https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/42/14132
  4. ↑ a b https://www.fbi.gov/services/laboratory/biometric-analysis/codis/codis-and-ndis-fact-sheet
  5. ↑ a b https://sakitta.org/resources/docs/Data-and-Communication-Flow-in-CODIS.pdf
  6. ↑ http://www.ncdoj.gov/getdoc/183aa47b-4b50-4af9-8c56-e3fb7e4b131d/CODIS-04-18-2014.aspx
  7. ↑ a b https://www.fbi.gov/services/laboratory/biometric-analysis/codis#CODIS-Overview
  8. ↑ https://www.findthemissing.org/documents/Missing_Persons_and_Unidentified_Remains_Nations_Silent_Mass_Disaster.pdf
  9. ↑ https://identifyus.org/help/NamUs-DNA_Protocol_for_Collection.pdf
  10. ↑ a b https://www.fbi.gov/services/laboratory/biometric-analysis/codis/ndis-statistics
  11. ↑ a b c https://www.fbi.gov/services/laboratory/biometric-analysis/codis/ndis-statistics
  12. ↑ http://www.rand.org/content/dam/rand/pubs/technical_reports/2010/RAND_TR918.pdf
  13. ↑ https://www.forensicmag.com/article/2016/04/does-codis-contain-untapped-ancestry-information
  14. ↑ https://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-1998-06-19/html/98-16391.htm
  15. ↑ http://www.urban.org/sites/default/files/publication/25021/412487-Collecting-DNA-from-Juveniles.PDF
  16. ↑ http://scholarworks.law.ubalt.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1295&context=all_fac
  17. ↑ https://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/04/us/supreme-court-says-police-can-take-dna-samples.html
  18. ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20160513135322/http://www.denverda.org/DNA_Documents/Familial_DNA/CDAA%20familial%20search%20article.pdf
  19. ↑ http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-familial-dna-20161023-snap-story.html
  20. ↑ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3253037
  21. ↑ https://www.forensicmag.com/news/2018/04/arizona-nabs-murder-suspect-familial-dna-searching-first-try
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