People V. Castro (1989)
Definition
New York Supreme Court case in which early RFLP DNA evidence was excluded under the Frye standard because the specific testing procedures used by Lifecodes Corporation, and their statistical calculations, had not achieved general acceptance. A landmark in establishing quality standards for forensic DNA.
- Court
- New York Supreme Court
- Year
- 1989
- Admissibility standard applied
- Frye
- Laboratory involved
- Lifecodes Corporation
- Outcome
- RFLP DNA evidence excluded on procedure and statistics
Common questions
What specifically failed the Frye test in this case?+
It was not DNA typing in principle that failed, but the particular laboratory protocols and the statistical calculations Lifecodes used to estimate match probability, which had not gained general acceptance in the relevant scientific community.
Why is Castro considered a turning point for forensic DNA quality standards?+
The ruling pushed the forensic DNA field toward standardised, validated protocols and proficiency testing, since courts had shown they would exclude results from labs whose methods could not withstand scientific scrutiny.
Did Castro end the use of DNA evidence in criminal courts?+
No. It temporarily restricted this specific evidence from this specific lab while triggering broader reforms; DNA evidence became a mainstay of criminal prosecution once labs adopted more rigorous, validated procedures.
Related terms
- BSA 2023 § 39
- Section 39 of the Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam 2023, the provision governing expert opinion evidence in Indian courts. Replaced Indian Evidence Act 1872...
- Daubert Standard
- The US federal evidentiary standard (Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals, 1993) requiring that expert testimony be based on scientifically valid methods with...
- ELSI (Ethical, Legal and Social Implications)
- The research domain and policy framework addressing the broader consequences of genetic science, including forensic genetics: familial searching, genetic privacy, consent, discriminatory...
- Familial Searching
- The deliberate use of partial DNA profile matches in a forensic database to identify biological relatives of an unknown contributor, on the...
- Frye Standard
- The US legal test for admissibility of scientific evidence, originating from Frye v. United States (1923), which required that a technique be...
- Prosecutor's Fallacy
- The error of treating the RMP (or its reciprocal) as the probability that the defendant is innocent, or as the probability that...
- R V. Doheny and Adams (1996)
- UK Court of Appeal judgment (Lord Justice Phillips) establishing the framework for DNA statistical evidence: the expert reports the random-match probability; the...