親生關係 證明에 있어서의 DNA 鑑定의 限界

A Study on the Limits of DNA Paternity Testing

DNA paternity testing is the most advanced and accurate method available for resolving parentage for medical, legal or personal reasons. It is even believed to be an absolutely perfect tool, which can discover the truth in any circumstances. Courts generally accept DNA paternity test results. However there are limits in the DNA paternity testing. It cannot successfully give a clear answer to the question, "Is he a biological father to the plaintiff". It only shows a probability that he might be. If we know the distribution of given alleles in a certain population, we can solve parternity indices or paternity probabilities on the premise that all the alleles tested are independent to one another under Hardy-Weinberg's equilibrium. If the allele distribution of any sub-population group is entirely different from that of a certain population, it is possible that the paternity index might be either under- or over-estimated. We couldn't calculate these indices or probabilities in difficult trials such as fatherless or motherless cases. In these cases, judges should confirm other collateral evidences and impose specified premises on these testings. Nevertheless our judges can not play any role in these testing, because they have no information about testing experts and their laboratory facilities in Korea. Therefore it is mandatory to set up a database concerning these issues. These information will help not only judges but also lawyers in paternity trials.