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How does the use of technology help criminal investigations
How might DNA help to solve crime
How might DNA help to solve crime
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As the world gets older, our technology gets stronger. When it comes to criminal cases such as homicides, the blooming of technology can be ever in the investigators favor. With the Grim Sleeper case in Los Angeles, DNA technology became a wonderful tool for the investigators. In the United States, the first appellate court decision to admit DNA evidence was made in Florida in 1998, in subsequent years DNA evidence gradually became a regular feature of criminal cases (Lewis 2010.) Having the technology we have today, we can connect recent cases with cold cases. A break in technology for this case was the outstanding familial DNA testing. This happened when the “Grim Sleeper” returned.
With the one lone survivor in 1988, came along a bullet for comparison, with use of ballistics. Ballistics helps match bullets and firearms. Ballistics had matched the bullet they had pulled from the survivor to the ones taken from previous victims. They matched several bullets to the previous crimes in the mid 1980’s. Also the LAPD had handed out thousands of flyers with the information of the murder...
The crime scene’s largest chunks of evidence included the .223 Remington shells (fired from Topete’s AR-15 Rifle), Topete’s car, Diaz’s Sherriff’s County Vehicle w/ impact points, Topete’s daughter (still in Diaz’ cruiser), Diaz’s ...
As we learned this week, DNA databases are used by various governmental agencies for several different purposes. We all have seen new magazine shows such as, 20/20 or Dateline, that show the collection of DNA samples from suspects in a case that is compared to those collected at the scene of the crime. But what happens when the sample is an incomplete match, compromised, or contaminated? The answer is the wrongful conviction of innocent citizens. The case that I have decided to highlight, is the wrongful conviction of Herman Atkins. In 1986, Atkins was convicted of two counts of forcible rape, two counts of oral copulation, and robbery in the state of California. It was alleged that Herman entered a shoe store, and raped, beat, and robbed a
In today's society no crime is a perfect crime, with the use of DNA testing and modern advancements in health and forensics even the smallest piece of someone's genome can be cultured and used to identify even the most devious of criminals. The use of DNA testing was able to help change the life of Gene Bibbins for the better and further proved how DNA testing is able to be used to help clarify who the culprit actually is. Gene Bibbins life was forever changed the night that he was unjustifiably arrested for aggravated rape which resulted in his being sentenced to life in prison, only for his case to eventually be reevaluated sixteen years after his conviction, leading to his exoneration.
There was other evidence than the forensics that matched Sacco’s gun to the bullets found in the two victims. Upon their arrest protests broke out worldwide based on their innocence. The two men were executed due to an unfair trial.
John Allen Muhammad and Lee Boyd Malvo are two murderers that are known as the Beltway Sniper. Muhammad and Malvo killings are known to be random, which categorizes their killings as a killing spree. During the duration of their killing spree, they caused major panic throughout the United States. This notorious shootings that terrorized the United States took place in 2002. The shootings ended up taking the lives of 10 individuals and injuring 3 others (Blades, 2005, para.1). The shooting at the time it took place is considered unique because their weapon of choice to carry out their plan was a sniper rifle. What is unique about this case is that investigators and criminal theorist
“DNA Testing and the Death Penalty.” ACLU: American Civil Liberties Union. 3 Oct. 2011. Web. 22 April 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...
Crime is a common public issue for people living in the inner city, but is not limited to only urban or highly populated cities as it can undoubtedly happen in small community and rural areas as well. In The Real CSI, the documentary exemplified many way in which experts used forensic science as evidence in trial cases to argue and to prove whether a person is innocent or guilty. In this paper, I explained the difference in fingerprinting technology depicted between television shows and in reality, how DNA technology change the way forensics evidence is used in the court proceedings, and how forensic evidence can be misused in the United States adversarial legal system.
Police also had fingerprints from the buick the was used in the South Braintree crime. But the fingerprints didn’t match and the police instead questioned them on their religion, political beliefs and associates, instead of the crime. The prosecutors used witnesses, but the witness accounts made no sense. Meaning it didn’t match the descriptions of the men and the stories weren’t the same and had loopholes. One witness said she saw the shooting from 60 feet away and said one of the men, which she said was Sacco, had big hands but he had small hands.
The second victim was David Spears, age forty-three. On June 1, 1990 Spears’s body was found on the side of a highway in Citrus County, Florida. He was found with no clothes on except a baseball cap and had died of six bullet wounds to the torso. The third victim was Charles Carskaddon, age forty. His body was found on June 6, 1990 in Pasco County, Florida. He was shot several times in the chest which lead to his death. The fourth victim was Troy Burress, age fifty. He was reported missing on July 31, 1990 and on August 4, 1990 police officers found his body in a wooded area along a road in Marion County, Florida. Cause of death was being shot twice. The fifth victim was Charles ‘Dick’ Humphreys, age fifty-six. His car was found in Suwannee
When the first responder got to the scene he adimatately meet the 911 caller, who lead him to a car in an apartment parking lot. The car doors were closed and all of the windows were fogged. The police officer used his flashlight to see inside of the car before opening the door. He found a young African American woman who had been shot several times. The officers quickly called for backup, investigators and medical personnel. While awaiting for their arrival he secured the crime scene with caution tape, creating an initial perimeter setup as discussed in lecture two. Once everyone arrived he left it to them to search the car while he talked to the 911 caller, witnesses and others who had information on who had been present in the car. The investigators were able to collect physical evidence of bullets and cartage casings that were found outside the vehicle and inside the vehicle on the floorboard of the driver’s side. The team determined the bullets came from a 40 caliber. Other types of physical evidence that were found on the scene were the bloody clothing on the victim, the victim’s cell phone and fibers in the car from the driver’s side. personnel at the scene crime took several photographs, powered test for finger prints and did a blood spatter analysis. Stewart’s autopsy revealed that she had been shot at close range in the left hand once and in the
The National DNA Index (NDIS) contains over 8,483,906 offender profiles and 324,318 forensic profiles as of June 2010 (Federal Bureau of Investigations, 2010). It has been suggested by Froomkin, a Senior Washington Correspondent, that the FBI is “shifting its resources from forensics to feeding the database” (Froomkin, 2010). This dramatic shift curtails some of the benefits of the CODIS application to the criminal justice system, as the backlogs of DNA samples increase and the statutes of limitations grow nearer and nearer on unsolved crimes.
Singer, Julie A. "The Impact Of Dna And Other Technology On The Criminal Justice System: Improvements And Complications."Albany Law Journal Of Science & Technology 17.(2007): 87. LexisNexis Academic: Law Reviews. Web. 10 Mar. 2014.
The Grim Sleeper is one of the most gruesome serial killers cases known in United States. The case dumbfounded LAPD for years. The Grim Sleeper left fear in the women of Los Angeles especially African American women who were the target of this merciless serial killer and rapist. The Grim Sleeper case was infamous due to his string of murders spanning through almost three decades.The coalition launched a media campaign and set a monetary reward aiming to capture the killer. Motivations involved in serial killings are fears of rejection, power, and perfection. Serial killers tend to be insecure, and irrationally scared of rejection. Serial killers tend to avoid developing painful relationships. They are terrified of being abandoned, humiliated,
In 1784, someone using a flintlock pistol shot Edward Culshaw. In those days, there were no bullets, as we know them. Gunpowder and a ball of lead were put into the gun’s muzzle and packed with paper wadding. A spark made when the gun’s hammer struck some flint at the back end of the barrel ignited the powder. When the constable examined Culshaw’s wound, he found a piece of newspaper used as wadding to pack the powder in the killer’s gun. The prime suspect in the killing was a man named John Toms. When a piece of newspaper found in Toms’ pocket was compared with the piece found in the wound, the pieces fit together like two pieces of a jigsaw puzzle. Based on the evidence, Toms was easily convicted. The Toms case was probably the first in America in which ballistics was used to solve a crime.