ABSTRACT
The forensic use of the human Y chromosome started about 50 years ago for the purpose of paternity testing, 40 years for male sex determination, 30 years for male lineage identification, 20 years for paternal ancestry inference and for familial search, and 10 years for male relative differentiation and individual identification. Over the years, scientific and technological progress in human molecular genetics has constantly allowed adding and improving forensic applications of Y-chromosome DNA via the discovery of new markers and the development of new analysis techniques, including commercial kits, and data interpretation methods. The underlining features that make the human Y chromosome attractive for forensic applications are the male specificity (hitherto absence in females), the (mostly) nonrecombining nature, and the rich content of different types of polymorphic markers with different underlying mutation rates. As described in this chapter, the human Y chromosome provides an increasing amount of forensically useful information, which is highly relevant for law enforcement given that the vast majority of criminal offenders are males.
