SERI proficiency test error. APEX proficiency tests results. BCA sample switching. The use of error rates in forensic DNA statistics. The results of DNA typing may either qualitatively include or exclude a potential suspect as the donor of DNA in an evidence sample.
Exclusions require no statistical analysis since they are absolute.
To complete this statistical assessment requires a quantification of the chance of two events. How likely is it that the suspect coincidentally has a DNA profile that matches the profile of the unknown person who really did leave the DNA evidence. The product rule answers only the first of the two important statistical questions in a forensic DNA case. The second question requires some estimate of laboratory false positive rates. All forensic laboratories I am familiar with fail to provide any estimate of lab error rate.