Re:Blackstone to Acquire Ancestry.com for $4.7B
by tsimionescu on Thursday August 06, 2020 @03:56PM
(#24074795)
The number of killers in the world is significantly dwarfed by all of the people who aren't killers. And even then, among all of the people who have ever killed someone, the number who were not caught but would have been caught if the police only had access to everyone's DNA is so vamishingly small, that there is no reason to take this seriously.
Not to mention that your argument falls apart once you realize that we have no real idea how powerful DNA evidence is, especially when found in small quantities. Is it possible that, if I walk daily by a high-rise that I have never entered, my DNA could be found in a room inside that building (e.g. because a fallen hair or my sneezing got on the clothes/shoes of someone passing by)? Likely, yes.
In fact, I would bet that trying to match all of the DNA at all of the crime scenes with all of the people in America would be much more likely to increase the number of false convictions than to help bring more murderers to justice.
Not to mention that your argument falls apart once you realize that we have no real idea how powerful DNA evidence is, especially when found in small quantities. Is it possible that, if I walk daily by a high-rise that I have never entered, my DNA could be found in a room inside that building (e.g. because a fallen hair or my sneezing got on the clothes/shoes of someone passing by)? Likely, yes.
In fact, I would bet that trying to match all of the DNA at all of the crime scenes with all of the people in America would be much more likely to increase the number of false convictions than to help bring more murderers to justice.