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 How Did the DNA Field Experiment Work?
NIJ (see reuse policy).
Description
              From November 2005 to July 2007, each of the five jurisdictions collected biological samples — evidence thought to contain human cells in the form of hair, tissue, bones, teeth, blood or other bodily fluids — from the first 500 property crime scenes in which this evidence was found. Researchers then randomly divided the cases into two equal groups: the “treatment” cases and the “control” cases. In the treatment group, cases were investigated in the traditional way *and* the evidence was analyzed for DNA. In the control group, cases were investigated in the traditional way and evidence was not analyzed for DNA for at least two months.
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