Match probabilities in racially admixed populations.

The calculation of match probabilities is the most contentious issue dividing prosecution and defense experts in the forensic applications of DNA fingerprinting. In particular, defense experts question the applicability of the population genetic laws of Hardy-Weinberg and linkage equilibrium to racially admixed American populations. Linkage equilibrium justifies the product rule for computing match probabilities across loci. The present paper suggests a method of bounding match probabilities that depends on modeling gene descent from ancestral populations to contemporary populations under the assumptions of Hardy-Weinberg and linkage equilibrium only in the ancestral populations. Although these bounds are conservative from the defendant's perspective, they should be small enough in practice to satisfy prosecutors.