The Effects of DNA Evidence on Property Offences in Court

Introduction and background: databases, both in Australia and the UK, were introduced and then extended, on the basis that they would target property offences, among which were domestic burglaries and car thefts (Vanstone 1998:13–17; Blakey 2000:xii, 13). This application of DNA databases was, in turn, used to justify legislation that provided for extensive DNA sampling of suspects to help apprehend those responsible for such offences (Green 2000:10). Despite this, while a review of the literature revealed papers that provided a more general overview of DNA use in the Australian criminal justice system (Gans & Urbas 2002, for example), no Australian criminological studies were found that evaluated the effects in court of DNA evidence on such offences.