The National Institute of Justice’s article “Extending Time to Collect DNA in Sexual Assault Cases” explains the use and shortcomings of DNA profiling in identifying a suspect in a sexual assault case. DNA profiles require the use of short sequences that repeat a number of times, called short tandem repeats (STRs). With the current DNA profiling method, many jurisdictions protocols require to collect the samples within three days of the sexual assault. However, a viable analysis is still possible after 5-6 days after the incident. In this case, the female cells outnumber the available sperm cells and new technologies such as holographic optical trapping (HOT) enhance the separation of sperm and egg cells. Scientists use one-tenth of non-coded
