Criminal and Civil Identification with DNA Databases Using Bayesian Networks

Forensic identification problems are examples in which the study of DNA profilesis a common approach. Here we present some problems and develop theirtreatment putting the focus in the use of Object-Oriented Bayesian Networks -OOBN. The use of DNA databases, which began in 1995 in England, hascreated new challenges about its use. In Portugal the legislation for theconstruction of a genetic database was defined in 2008. With this it is importantto determine how to use it in an appropriate way.For a crime that has been committed, forensic laboratories identify geneticcharacteristics in order to connect one or more individuals to it. Apart thelaboratories results it is a matter of great importance to quantify the informationobtained, i.e., to know how to evaluate and interpret the results obtainedproviding support to the judicial system. Other forensic identification problemsare body identification; whether the identification of a body (or more than one)found, together with the information of missing persons belonging to one or moreknown families, for which there may be information of family members whoclaimed the disappearance. In this work we intend to discuss how to use thedatabase; the hypotheses of interest and the database use to determine thelikelihood ratios, i.e., how to evaluate the evidence for different situations.