Judges and juries once acted under a rebuttable presumption that a man living with or married to a child’s mother was the child’s father. With the advancement of science, however, and traditional evidence, this rebuttable presumption1 has been replaced by scientific testing. Since genetic markers in blood and DNA patterns tend to be dispositive, 99 percent of current laboratory casework is resolved without trial.
The application of scientific principles is the most objective means to resolve paternity2 disputes and DNA testing is the primary means to settle conflicts in paternity and forensic cases. With its long history of scientific resolution by classical genetic systems and its gradual incorporation of DNA typing, paternity testing has avoided most of the serious controversy surrounding other forensic applications of DNA testing.3 Paternity laboratories have worked side by side with other agencies to create and develop appropriate standards which regulate testing and the reporting of both exclusionary and quantified “inclusionary” opinions from genetic markers. These standards are applicable to DNA paternity testing.
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