What is a forensic paternity case?
A forensic paternity case is any case that needs to be treated as a forensic case, but requires relationship testing. One common type of forensic paternity case is a rape or incest case where there is a child or product of conception available for testing. We are aware that rape and incest crimes often are not reported soon enough after the crime has been committed in order to obtain biological evidence from the victim. If a pregnancy is a result of the crime, a paternity test can be performed on the alleged father and the child or product of conception (if the pregnancy is aborted). Another example of a forensic paternity case would be the identification of unknown remains by comparison of the remains to any living relatives. Finally, any paternity or relationship testing case that involves uncommon sample types, such as personal effects, would be processed using forensic techniques, and would therefore be considered a forensic paternity case.
