Introduction
DNA testing has been the center of attention in many criminal justice cases. The United States corrections centers have utilized the DNA testing process. Seventeen death row inmates have been exonerated by the use of these tests. Earl Washington was convicted of rape and murder in 1984. Although he confessed to the rape, he was also diagnosed as being mentally retarded. In October of 2000 Mr., Washington was given a DNA test and was excluded as the rapist and murderer. The Virginia Governor pardoned Mr. Washington after he had served 16 years in prison with 14 of them being on death row (ACLU, 2011). DNA testing has become the rule rather than the exception; but what happens with the DNA after a person has been acquitted, dismissed, or exonerated. Where does DNA go to die or does it? Is the DNA destroyed, or is it retained in miscellaneous databanks for further retrieval and use? In 2010, the United States Congress began a campaign designed to encourage the states to require DNA to be taken from suspects whether they had been charged with a crime or not. In the case of S. and Marper v the United Kingdom found that the retention of the applicants' fingerprints, cellular samples and DNA profiles was in violation of Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights. Is creating a policy in the United States that demand DNA from suspects helps in finding subsequent criminals or is it just leading to a track and trace policy?
The Collection and Retention of DNA
The collection of DNA in an investigation is used most often to determine who the perpetrator(s) might be in a crime. There has been a rapid growth since its inception and legal and ethical issues have arisen. In the Double –Helix Double-Edged ...
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...he Council of Europe on The European Convention on Human Rights and its Five Protocols. This document encompasses the Preamble and Articles on Human Rights laws.
Mercedes, C. (2008, August 1). Sean Vincent Gillis. Cheryl Mercedes is a news anchor and reporter for WAFB TV in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. WAFB. (2007). Public Defender's Office Asks to be Removed from Gillis Case. Retrieved from WAFB Channel 9
Nakashima, E., & Hsu, S. (2008, April 17). U. S. to Expand collection of Crime Suspects' DNA. Retrieved from The Washington Post: Ellen Nashima is a national secruity reporter for The Washington Post. She focuses on issues relating to intelligence, technology and civil liberties.
Silvestein,J. (2013, April 3) The Dark Side of DNA Collection was written by Jason Silverstein a PhD student in anthropology at Harvard University. He presently works in research.
Anderson, Jessica Cumberbatch. "Henrietta Lacks' Family, Feds Reach Settlement On Use Of DNA Info." The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 07 Aug. 2013. Web. 14 May 2014.
Familial DNA searching works by using the combined DNA index system (CODIS) to compare DNA samples taken from crime scenes to DNA profiles already recorded in the local, state, or national criminal DNA database. There are many indexes in the database; two of the largest are the offender index, a catalogue of DNA profiles from previously convicted felons, and the forensic index, a catalogue of DNA from crime-scenes. A DNA sample is run through the database by CODIS’ matching algorithm that searches the indexes against one another to generate matches according to how often base pairs, or “markers,” repeat in th...
...lgram, Jeff. "In Jefferson-Hemings DNA test, media found failing: Research director sees 'biggest science story' as widely misinterpreted." Packet Online. 29 Apr. 2000
Kolata, Gina. "DNA Tests Provide Key to Cell Doors for Some Wrongly Convicted Inmates." The New York Times
First and foremost is the Michael Mosley case. Michael Mosley was convicted murdering a couple ten years ago (Wurtman, 2011). Two other men were cleared when Mosley’s DNA was found at the scene of the murder (Crowe II, 2012). Also, there was a palm print on the wall and further DNA on the sheets in the bedroom (Wurtman, 2011). In contrast to all the evidence, Mosley’s attorney offered an alternative reason and painted a picture of different events to explain Mosley’s DNA’s presence (Wurtman, 2011). However, the jury didn’t buy the defense’s story, and Michael Mosley’s conviction led to a call for the DNA database to be worked on with the most interesting fact being that Michael Mosley had no DNA in the system until seven years later than the crime (Crowe II, 2012).
DNA testing is one of forensic sciences core techniques. Everyone has there own individual DNA profile, even identical twins. DNA is in every cell of our body. In the 1980s, a British scientist named Sir Alec Jeffery's, developed DNA profiling. Our DNA can be separated from human cells found at a Crime Scene, with perspiration, blood, skin, the roots of hair, semen, mucus, and saliva. The Colin Pitchfork case was the first murder conviction established on DNA profiling evidence.
...o be done. Both the use of and access to DNA databases need to be strictly limited. DNA databases should only be used for law enforcement purposes and once DNA profiles are created the original DNA samples should be destroyed. Regulations also need to be put in place that address the procedures for the taking of DNA samples and procedure for the maintenance of DNA databases. These safeguards need to be enforced through regular testing of DNA databases and the implementation of strict penalties for violations of any of the safeguards. There can be great benefits to the use of DNA databases, but these benefits can only be realized if the privacy rights of those required to provide DNA samples are protected. This protection will only occur as a result of national safeguards such as those mentioned above that databases as well as those using them are required to follow.
Rowe, W.F. (1996, February 1). Convicted by Juries, Exonerated by Science: Case Studies in the Use of DNA Evidence to Establish Innocence After Trial. National Institute of Justice, 10, 15. Retrieved from, https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles/dnaevid.pdf
Forensic Scientists can extract semen from a rape victim and use it to help identify the criminal. The semen extracted contains traces of DNA. Deoxyribonucleic acid, also known as DNA, is “the hereditary material in humans and almost all other organisms” (“What is DNA?”). Similar to fingerprints, no two persons have identical DNA with the exception of identical twins. The FBI began using DNA testing in criminal investigations in 1998 (Hays). In 1994, Congress authorized the Combined DNA Index System, also known as CODIS (Hays). This is a system of DNA records from national, state, and local crime labs (Hays). It contains more than four million DNA samples from convicted offenders, and more than 160,000 samples from crime scene evidence (Hays)...
“The rapid implementation and continuing expansion of forensic DNA databases around the world has been supported by claims about their effectiveness in criminal investigations and challenged by assertions of the resulting intrusiveness into individual privacy” (p545).
Neergaard, Lauran. "Bioethics Panel Urges More Gene Privacy Protection." Indianapolis Star. 11 Oct. 2012: n.p. SIRS Issues Researcher. Web. 17 Mar. 2014.
the Use of DNA Evidence to Establish Innocence After Trial. National Institute of Justice, 10, 15. Retrieved from, https://www.ncjrs.gov/
The typical patterns of genetic profiles are produced by electrophoresis of treated samples of DNA. This patterns may be called fingerprints. In criminal investigations, there are tested about 10 sites of the DNA. If the banding patterns produced by the tested DNA samples of a suspect in a crime, and the samples taken from the crime scene are the same, it is enough evidence for convicting a suspect and taking him to jail. The 99% of human DNA is exactly the same for all the people, even though, a single droplet of blood, or an eyelash collected in a crime scene, contains all the genetic information needed of every single person in the world, to convict a criminal. DNA profiling has have a huge impact in many things, from the...
Zimmer, Carl. "DNA Double Take." The New York Times. New York Times Company, 16 Sept.
Discoveries in DNA, cell biology, evolution, and biotechnology have been among the major achievements in biology over the past 200 years with accelerated discoveries and insight’s over the last 50 years. Consider the progress we have made in these areas of human knowledge. Present at least three of the discoveries you find to be the most important and describe their significance to society, heath, and the culture of modern life.