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¶ … DNA has improved the Forensics Field
As technology and science have progressed, DNA evidence and its use within criminal forensics and trials have become more prevalent. This is not to say that every case hinges on DNA evidence, or that every crime scene can be worked over in order to obtain a criminal's DNA, but the knowledge of this tool within the forensics realm has reshaped the way in which many investigations are conducted. DNA evidence has also acted to shed a new light within the trial realm, as experts in the field offer their opinions as to the efficacy and accuracy of such evidence. It is also being used to shed new light on old cases, helping people get out of jail and clear their names in many cases.
DNA was first used by authorities to help convict a murderer in England in 1984. In the U.S., it was first used in the late 1980's in a Portland, Oregon investigation (Lynch, et. al., 2008). Since these times, DNA evidence and the science and accuracy behind it has evolved into a process that now take a few days instead of weeks or months. Twenty years ago it was not uncommon for forensics labs to require three to five weeks to process DNA evidence, and the types and condition of the evidence often had to be very specific, or it could not be analyzed (Weir,...
Currently, there exists new technology to help recover damaged or incomplete DNA evidence from a crime scene.
If a person leaves his or her DNA at a crime scene, which could occur a number of ways through blood, hair, fingernails, semen, and other bodily fluids, that evidence is now subject to forensics testing (Weir, 2009). As the U.S. builds a DNA database of all its convicted criminals and felons, it is becoming rather difficult to remain out of police or forensic scrutiny if the person who commits the crime is in that database (Weir, 2009). The database itself is not unlike the fingerprint database, which began nearly a century ago in that it helps authorities track who was at or around a crime scene and at what time or in what capacity. Beyond the database, crime labs are now even able to analyze DNA evidence and samples from a criminal or suspect's family in order to obtain a clear match between them and the evidence. This means that a criminal or suspect who is not in the database could then have such evidence used against them in court (Bieber, Brenner, and Lazer, 2006).
Even further beyond the database, technologically, lies the newly developed and highly controversial use of DNA evidence to predict externally visible human characteristics of a…
Bibliography
Bieber, F., Brenner, C.H, and Lazer, D. (2006). "Finding criminals through DNA
of their relatives." Science, Vol. 2: Pp. 312.
Kayser, M. And Schneider, P.M. (2009). "DNA-based prediction of human externally visible characteristics in forensics: Motivations, scientific challenges, and ethical considerations." Forensic Science International: Genetics. Vol. 3, No. 3. Pp. 154-161.
Lynch, M., Cole, S.A., McNally, R. And Jordan, K. (2008). Truth machine: the contentious history of DNA fingerprinting. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Pp. 21-23.
CSI Effect in Criminal Forensics It has long been suspected that the scenes, stories and situations people are exposed to through the medium of television can eventually distort their view of reality. Phenomena such as the desensitization to violence exhibited by children who watch hours of cartoon combat daily, or the shifting sense of body image experienced by women who only see slim, attractive models on screen serve to confirm
, 2005) In the same way that traditional techniques of criminal identification have enabled law enforcement authorities to establish national fingerprint information databases for the purposes of connecting evidence to possible previous offenders, DNA-based forensic evidence has allowed the creation of similar databases greatly expanding the types of forensic evidence used to increase the security of sensitive facilities and restricted areas. When combined with the ever-increasing power of modern computer technology to
At the same time, there is a different element introduced in the pursuit of forensic science that is not dealt with in other branches of scientific inquiry. As the question of justice is also central to any forensic proceeding, the suspect's account of events and/or hypothesized explanations for observations must also be taken account (Young 2009). In this way, both verification and falsification can be used during experimentation. Before these
Forensics in Criminal Investigations Exploring the Use of Forensics in Criminal Investigations Forensic Science and Technology This paper explores the role of forensic science and technology in modern criminal investigations. It first examines the nature and role of physical evidence in regards to how it is uncovered, preserved, and analyzed within forensics today. Physical evidence is described in the varying types and categories. Then, the paper moves to evaluating different types of forensic
Forensic Pathology: Forensics and DNA DNA is part of the building blocks of human life and individuality: "DNA is present in nearly every cell of our bodies, and we leave cells behind everywhere we go without even realizing it. Flakes of skin, drops of blood, hair, and saliva all contain DNA that can be used to identify us" (Norrgard, 2008). DNA has long been a major part of forensics testing used
All samples must be properly collected, using gloves and other tools in order to prevent contamination, as well as properly stored until analysis can be performed. It is vitally important that this chain of evidence be maintained so that the evidence collected from using the samples can then be admissible in a court of law. This requires those collecting and storing samples not only to use gloves and tools to