DNA
The emergence of DNA testing has resulted in the exoneration of many people convicted of crimes. The ACLU (2011) has stated that 17 people on death row were exonerated as of September, 2011. A project in Virginia found 33 individuals convicted of sexual assaults who between 1973-1987 who were still incarcerated in 2012 and whose innocence was demonstrated by DNA testing (Michaels, 2012). DNA testing has proven effective at uncovering since instances of justice gone unserved, because of the unique nature of DNA testing.
Each person's DNA is unique, as a genetic fingerprint. This is the main value that DNA testing has in forensics. Often, before DNA testing was introduced, convictions could be made on the basis of anything from fabricated evidence to weak witnesses. There has always been a certain percentage of instances where innocent people were convicted, even in capital cases. DNA testing, however, has been used in recent…...
On November 19, 1991, 14-year-old Cateresa Matthews left her great-grandmother's house in Dixmoor, Illinois. She was not seen again until December 8, 1991, when her body was found on a well-worn path running along I-57 as it passes through Dixmoor. "She had been shot in the mouth at close range with a .25 caliber pistol. She was also an apparent victim of sexual assault, as her body was naked from the waist down. A pair of white panties was found around her right ankle, and her jeans were draped across her chest. Seminal fluid was recovered from the vaginal and rectal swab of the victim" (obert Taylor, n.d).
The Investigation
The police made no arrests and apparently had no leads in the case for over ten months, until October 20, 1992. On that date, a police report specified that Keno Barnes, 15, supposedly told the police that…...
Change them often; (2) Use disposable instruments or clean them thoroughly before and after handling each sample; (3) Avoid touching the area where you believe DNA may exist; (4) avoid talking, sneezing, and coughing over evidence; (5) Avoid touching your face, nose, and mouth when collecting and packaging evidence; (6) Air-dry evidence thoroughly before packaging; and (7) Put evidence into new paper bags or envelopes, not into plastic bags. Do not use staples." (National Institute of Justice, 2007)
V. Future of CODIS
The work entitled: "Communication, Documentation and Information Services" states that in the future CODIS will "continue to place a major emphasis on upgrading technology in all areas of its responsibility." (Vest of Research, nd) in a National Institute of Justice report entitled: "The Future of Forensic DNA Testing: Predictions of the Research and Development Working Group" published in November 2000 states that "technology projections for 2010" include transition to…...
Lessons Learned From 9/11: DNA Identification in Mass Fatality Incidents. (2007) President's DNA Initiatives. Online available at http://www.dna.gov/uses/mass_fatalities/
Using DNA and Other Resources to Identify Missing Persons (2007) President's DNA Initiative Online available at http://www.dna.gov/uses/m_person/.
At the time that yrd was tried in 1985 DNA technology was not capable of forensic analysis of biological evidence however; in 1997 a comparison was conducted of yrd's DNA with the bodily fluid in the rape kit that had been collected at the time of the incident resulting in yrd's exoneration for this crime. The importance of proper preservation of biological evidence is highlighted in this case and not only for the purpose of obtaining a conviction but also for the purpose of ensuring that the wrong individual is not charged, found guilty and sentenced to prison for a crime that they did not commit.
VI. Most Common Applications of lood Evidence
The work of George Schiro entitled: "Collection and Preservation of lood Evidence from Crime Scenes" states that prior to the documentation and collection of blood evidence the value of the evidence must be recognized by the crime scene…...
Jones, Cynthia E. (2005) Evidence Destroyed, Innocence Lost: The Preservation of Biological Evidence Under Innocence Protection Statues. The American Criminal Law Review. 1 Oct 2005. Online available at: http://www.allbusiness.com/legal/laws/1047368-1.html
Ladd, HC and Ladd, C. (2001) Preservation and Collection of Biological Evidence. Croat Med J. 2001 Jun;42(3):225-8. Online available at: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11387627
Criminal Justice System
Challenges of Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13) to law enforcement
Law enforcement agencies view the Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13) the most harmful street gang in the U.S. The aggressive nature of MS-13 members have led to a variety of killings and terrible beatings. Various trials held in New York and Maryland have led to significant jail terms even extending to life imprisonment for MS-13 members. The FBI was first attracted by violence, but proof of the gang's escalating level of organization has drawn public attention. Organization is an indicator of a future where MS-13 is will be a transnational network of criminals extending from the United States to suburban communities in a multitude of U.S. towns (Mandel, 2013).
Despite functions of violence, it is worrying to note that MS-13 movement is improving its structure and organization. Many major security experts are comparing it to the illegal groups of the 50s such as…...
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References
Erbschloe, M. (2001). Information Warfare How To Survive Cyber Attacks. New York: Osborne/McGraw-Hill.
Mandel, R. (2013). Global Security Upheaval Armed Nonstate Groups Usurping State Stability Functions. Stanford: Stanford University Press.
Scheck, B. (2010). 250 Exonerated, Too Many Wrongfully Convicted: An Innocence Project Report On The First 250 DNA Exonerations In The U.S. New York: Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law, Yeshiva University.
Siegel, L., & Senna, J. (2009). Essentials of Criminal Justice (6th Ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Cengage Learning.
Threat or perception of threat is best described by protection motivation theory:
This theory states that the extent to which people show preventive behavior in light of a threat depends on their protection motivation (. W. ogers, 1975, 1983). According to this theory, the level of protection motivation depends on the seriousness of the threat, the probability that the threat will manifest itself, the judged efficacy of the recommended behavior (called response or outcome efficacy), and the self-efficacy expectation relating to that behavior. (Wiegman & Gutteling, 1995, p. 235)
In a practical sense what this theory says about the perceived threat is that as incidences of observation occur in the lives of individuals, be they real or imagined they will likely become more protective and therefore attempt to engage in avoidance of behaviors that have been identified with the production of environmental threat. By doing so this the individual, and the…...
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References
Agnew, R. (1985). A Revised Strain Theory of Delinquency. Social Forces, 64(1), 151-167.
Lesko, Wayne a (2006). Readings in Social Psychology (6th ed).
New York: Allyn & Bacon.
Lyddon, W.J., & Sherry, a. (2001). Developmental Personality Styles: An Attachment Theory Conceptualization of Personality Disorders. Journal of Counseling and Development, 79(4), 405.
DNA Exonerations: John Kogut
The Path To Exoneration: John Kogut
The Path to Conviction
When 16-year-old Teresa Fusco left work at 9:45 PM on November 10, 1984 she became one among several young girls reported missing over the past several years [Centurion Ministries, 2013; Innocence Project, n.d.(a)]. In contrast to her predecessors, however, her body was discovered a month later in a wooded area several blocks from the roller rink where she worked. According to the autopsy, Teresa had been raped and murdered. Semen and sperm were collected from her body and the marks on her neck revealed that she had been strangled with a rope or cord. Also found at the scene were her jewelry and the murder weapon. The coroner's office, however, failed to conduct a blood type analysis on the semen.
The Nassau County police were under tremendous pressure to solve these disappearances, especially Teresa's rape and murder [Innocence Project, n.d.(a)].…...
While black men can be incredibly diverse-looking, she may focus on those features that tend to differentiate them from white men. This is a risk in any cross-racial identification, where someone may notice differences from their own ethnic group, but fail to look beyond those features that stand out as "other" in his mind, which makes any person in that racial group a possible suspect.
In fact, it is impossible to overplay the role that misidentification has played in so many wrongful convictions. It is difficult for many people to realize that DNA evidence did not play a role in older convictions; the technology simply was not available. Furthermore, when DNA evidence first became available, it was a new technology that was not fully understood by all of the actors in the criminal justice system. In those early times, there were investigators, prosecutors, and fact finders who would believe a…...
e should be thankful for this amazing technological development," (Hatch, 2000).
The death penalty must be altered, not abolished. In all new cases, if DNA evidence is not provided as conclusive for the conviction of the arrested, then capital punishment should not even be a consideration. There are already appeals processes in place for those who presently serve on Death Row, and in many of these cases, the inmates have pleaded for DNA testing. This should be executed on a case-by-case basis, pending the jurisdiction of the local judicial system. It was found in the research for this analysis that many of the authors who approve of using DNA testing for exoneration, oppose DNA evidence that has been presented during the time of trial. Much like those who oppose the death penalty and those who support it, there will be continued debate over this new science, which is offering legendary…...
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Works Cited
American Civil Liberties Union. (2010). DNA Testing and the Death Penalty. Retrived April 16, 2010, from www.aclu.org.
Banner, Stuart. (2002). The Death Penalty: An American History. Cambridge, MA:
Hatch, Orrin G. (June 13, 200). Post-Conviction DNA Testing: When Is Justice Served?
Sinclair Billy Wayne, & Sinclair, Jodie. (2009). Capital Punishment: An Indictment by a Death-Row Survivor. New York, NY: Arcade Publishing.
A good example is the 1985 murder of convenience store clerk Cynthia Barlieb, whose murder was prosecuted by a district attorney bent on securing execution for Barlieb's killer (Pompeilo 2005). The original trial and all the subsequent appeals forced Barlieb's family, including four young daughters, to spend 17 years in the legal process - her oldest daughter was 8 years old when Cynthia was first shot, and 25 when the process ended without a death sentence (Pompelio 2005). During those 17 years, Cynthia Barlieb's family was forced to repeatedly relive her murder.
hen a person is murdered, it is understandable that American society demands justice, particularly on behalf of the victim's family and loved ones. But we can not advocate capital punishment under the guise of protecting the interests of victims' families, and then cut those members out of the process when they do not support the death penalty. and,…...
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Works Cited
American Civil Liberties Union (2002). "ACLU Praises Supreme Court Refusal of 'Sleeping Lawyer' Case as 'Acknowledgment and Reminder' of Death Penalty Problems." Retrieved Sept. 30, 2006 at http://www.aclu.org/capital/unequal/10466prs20020603.html .
Antonio, Michael E. (2006). "Arbitrariness and the death penalty: how the defendant's appearance during trial influences capital jurors' punishment decision." Behavioral Sciences & the Law. March 2006.Vol.24, Iss. 2.
(Human Genome Project, DNA Forensics, 2006) Examples of genetic testing use of DNA in forensic identification are: (1) identification of potential suspects from DNA left at crime scene; (2) exoneration of those wrongly accused of crimes; (3) identification of crime and catastrophe victims; (4) establishment of paternity and other family relationship; (5) identification of endangered and protected species in aiding wildlife officials and in prosecution of poachers; (6) detection of bacteria and other organisms that may be pollutants of air, water, soil and food; (7) matching of organ donors with recipients in transplant programs; (8) determination of pedigree for seed or livestock breeds; and (9) authentication of consumables such as caviar and wine. (U.S. Department of Justice, 2003; DNA Forensics, 2006) DNA typing is accomplished through obtaining DNA samples through designing "small pieces of DNA probes that will each seek out and bind to a complementary DNA sequence in…...
Forensic Sciences in the USA and the United Kingdom
Over the last two decades, the forensic science has assisted in producing valuable evidence that has contributed to a successful conviction and prosecution of criminals and exoneration of innocent citizens. Typically, an advanced in forensic science and DNA technology have been a great assistance for law enforcement agency for an identification and prosecution of criminals. In the United States and the UK, many cases that have been formally unsolved have now been solved based on the great assistance of the forensic science investigators. (National esearch Council, 2009). Forensics or forensic science is a field of investigation drawing different scientific disciplines in law, criminal and civil services. This practice requires an application of scientific knowledge, quantitative, qualitative and empirical skills to collect and analyze data that will assist in presenting evidence in a tribunal or court of law. However, the method the…...
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Reference
Butler, J.M. (2015). U.S. initiatives to strengthen forensic science & international standards in forensic DNA. Forensic Sci Int Genet. 18: 4 -- 20.
Goulka, J.E. Matthies, C. Steinberg, P. (2010). Toward a Comparison of DNA Profiling and Databases in the United States and England. Technical report (Rand Corporation).
House of Common (2013). Forensic Science. House of Commons Science and Technology Committee.
Mallett, X. & Evison, M.P. (2013). Forensic Facial Comparison: Issues of Admissibility in the Development of Novel Analytical Technique. J Forensic Sci, 58 (4):859-865.
She answered that no one had condemned her. Jesus then said to her, "Then neither do I condemn you," Jesus declared. "Go now and leave your life of sin" (John 8:11).
Because the woman was not stoned in the end, many interpret it to mean that Jesus changed Mosaic law and then this argument is extended to capital punishment in general. However, Jesus still left the opportunity for her to be stoned. If one of the people in the crowd had been without sin, then the woman would have still been stoned. He did not tell them not to stone her, he only set a condition on who should cast the first stone. He said nothing about the second or third stone, only the first. Luckily, for the woman, there were no qualified takers who could cast the first stone. Therefore, Jesus did not abolish capital punishment in this passage.…...
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Works Cited
Anderson, Kerby. "Capital Punishment." Leadership U. 2010. Web, 5 May 2010.
Croucher, Rowling. et al. (2003). "Death Penalty in the Bible." John Mark Ministries. Web, 5
A vastly accepted principle of the justice system is that bringing the guilty perpetrators to justice. Consequently, the danger of a guilty person remaining free dominated public attention (Bjerk & Helland, 2018). However, the justice system has been flawed for robbing of life experiences and freedom of wrongfully convicted individuals (Gould & Leo, 2010). The flaws in the justice system have attracted public opinion and research interest. Empirical interest in wrongful convictions dates back to research work by Borchard (1932). The introduction of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) testing technology in the justice system brought to light the flaws in the system by revealing the innocence of convicts in prison with some serving death or life sentences (Bjerk & Helland, 2018). Wrongful convictions occur when factually innocent persons are convicted of crimes; a miscarriage in the justice system. The handful convictions of innocent persons challenges the efficacy of the US justice system.
The…...
Safeguarding the criminal justice system from wrongful convictions through an efficient innocence program policy evaluation proposalExecutive summaryConvicting innocent people is a global concern. The problem has been brought to the fore in the US through DNA tests that have proven the innocence of some of the people already serving jail terms. So far, up to 138 people have been exonerated of the crimes they were accused and convicted of. Of the number, 13 people were on death row. Experts observe that at least 23 people have already been executed after conviction, in the US, despite their innocence. There are persistent efforts that have led to significant progress with regard to detecting and preventing people from being wrongfully convicted. There is a lot of room for improvement in this area though. Apart from the reforms highlighted and discussed in this paper, the public is increasingly becoming aware of the problem.…...
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