Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
When was fingerprinting first created
How DNA might be useful to solving crime
Essays on DNA Fingerprinting
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Recommended: When was fingerprinting first created
DNA fingerprinting, one of the great discoveries of the late 20th century, has revolutionized forensic investigations. This reviews about 30 years of progress in DNA Fingerprinting analysis which helps to convict criminals, free the wrongly accused, and identify victims of crime, disasters, and war. Current standard methods based on short tandem repeats (STRs) are covered. Advancements and expanding forensic DNA databases are discussed and we ask what the future holds for all types of DNA fingerprinting.
Intro
DNA(Deoxyribonucleic Acid) Fingerprinting is not typically thought of when thinking of things people use everyday. It is more important than people believe it to be. Scientists have spent a lot of of and money to improve the overall DNA copying process. It is one of those type of processes that are so simple yet so complicated. The scientists take a lot of time and precise work to complete DNA fingerprinting. The long and tedious process has multiple steps to it and the uses for it are incredible that hold for a bright future in DNA Fingerprinting.
Body
DNA Fingerprinting is a method of isolating and identifying elements in a sequence of DNA. This was discovered by a man named Alec Jeffreys in the year of 1984. He noticed that certain sequences of highly variable DNA (minisatellites); which do not contribute to the functions of genes; are repeated within the genes. Each individual is given their own unique DNA patterns (minisatellites) by their parents. Jefferys saw that nobody could have the same DNA sequence as another human being with the exception of identical twins (The Tech Museum of innovation).
The procedure for creating a DNA fingerprint consists of first obtaining a sample of cells (skin, hair, or blood cell...
... middle of paper ...
... and have helped paternity confusions for many families around the world. Lots of people around the world are grateful for this technology created on around 30 years ago. I believe that this technology is fantastic because of all the stories I have read on how DNA Fingerprinting has helped these people. One story really grabbed my attention and its the Ghana Immigration Case of 1985 that I talked about earlier. As I read through the story it reached me on an emotional level even though I have no idea who these people are. But I can relate because I would not want to be separated from my mom and DNA Fingerprinting helped this family out. The benefits for this useful tool can only go such a long way with the technological advancements we have in our time right now but they have been great so far and I can’t wait to see what this bright future will have in store for us.
the DNA from the roots of the hair. The replicated DNA samples were then placed into the
When it comes to identical twins we have come to learn that twin identical or not will not have the same fingerprint. Fingerprints are unique and are made to identify a person. So even when you clone humans or other primates I believe that the Friction ridge pattern will be similar but not exactly the same. I believe that in the process of the cloning process something will cause the fingerprints to come out different. Because cloning is dangerous there has yet to be a human cloning, but there have been cloning of monkeys and according to the data even though the monkey was cloned the fingerprint still isn’t the same.
DNA is the blueprint of life. It stores our genetic information which is what is in charge of how our physical appearance will look like. 99.9% of human DNA is the same in every person yet the remaining .1% is what distinguishes each person (Noble Prize). This small percentage is enough to make each person different and it makes identifying people a lot easier when its necessary. DNA not only serves to test relationships between people it also helps in criminal cases. DNA testing in criminal cases has not been around for many years if fact it was not until the early 1990s when the use of DNA testing for criminal cases was approved and made available. By comparing the DNA of a suspect and that found in the crime scene a person can either be convicted of a crime or they can be exonerated. This method of testing gained more publicity in the 1984 case of Kirk Noble Bloodsworth a man who had been convicted of the rape and first degree murder of a nine year old girl in Maryland. His case was a milestone in the criminal justice system since it involved the use of new technology and it also raised the question of how many people had been wrongly incarcerated for a crime they did not commit.
. DNA can be left or collected from the hair, saliva, blood, mucus, semen, urine, fecal matter, and even the bones. DNA analysis has been the most recent technique employed by the forensic science community to identify a suspect or victim since the use of fingerprinting. Moreover, since the introduction of this new technique, there has been a large number of individuals released or convicted of crimes based on DNA left at the crime scene. DNA is the abbreviation for deoxyribonucleic acid.
Nowadays, DNA is a crucial component of a crime scene investigation, used to both to identify perpetrators from crime scenes and to determine a suspect’s guilt or innocence (Butler, 2005). The method of constructing a distinctive “fingerprint” from an individual’s DNA was first described by Alec Jeffreys in 1985. He discovered regions of repetitions of nucleotides inherent in DNA strands that differed from person to person (now known as variable number of tandem repeats, or VNTRs), and developed a technique to adjust the length variation into a definitive identity marker (Butler, 2005). Since then, DNA fingerprinting has been refined to be an indispensible source of evidence, expanded into multiple methods befitting different types of DNA samples. One of the more controversial practices of DNA forensics is familial DNA searching, which takes partial, rather than exact, matches between crime scene DNA and DNA stored in a public database as possible leads for further examination and information about the suspect. Using familial DNA searching for investigative purposes is a reliable and advantageous method to convict criminals.
Saltus, Richard. "DNA Fingerprinting: Its A Chance Of Probabilties." The Boston Globe 22 August 1994: 25.
It was in 1984 when Alec Jeffreys, a British geneticist, discovered that specific sequences of DNA did not add to the function of a gene but were still constant throughout it. (Britannica). Jeffreys called these minisatellites and determined that each individual organism had a unique arrangement of minisatellites (Britannica). In the early uses of DNA fingerprinting, it was only used for identifying genetic diseases and disorders but people quickly realized that it could be used in many different areas of science (hubpages). Years after the discovery of DNA fingerprinting, it had been used to solve the first immigration case, the first paternity case, and even helped identify the first identical twins (le.ac.uk). The first methods of DNA fingerprinting were accurate, but you would have had needed to acquire a large amount of DNA. Over time, the advancement of science has led to major advances that formed the basis of DNA profiling techniques. These newer methods are still used today and allow scientist to use skin, blood, semen, and hair to gather DNA (le.ac.uk). In 1988 DNA fingerprinting was used for the first time in a criminal investigation. Timothy Spe...
DNA in forensic science has been around for a long time. DNA has had help in solving almost every crime committed. There have been a lot of crimes where people are raped or murdered and the person who did it runs free. Scientists can collect the littlest item they see at the scene, such as a cigarette butt or coffee cup and check it for DNA. People have spent years in jail for a crime they didn’t commit till DNA testing came into effect. People are getting out of jail after 20 years for a crime they didn’t commit, cause of the DNA testing. DNA has helped medical researchers develop vaccines for disease causing microbe. DNA has become a standard tool of forensics in many murders and rapes.
DNA, or deoxyribonucleic exists in all living organisms, is self-replicating and gives a person their unique characteristics. No two people have the same matching DNA. There are many different forms of DNA that are tested for situations such as criminal. Bodily fluids, hair follicles and bone tissues are some of the most common types of DNA that is tested in crime labs today. Although the discovery of DNA dates back to 1866 when Gregor Mendel proved the inheritance of factors in pea plants, DNA testing is relatively new and have been the prime factor when solving crimes in general. In 1966, scientists discovered a genetic code that made it possible to predict characteristics by studying DNA. This lead to genetic engineering and genetic counseling. In 1980, Organ was the first to have a conviction based off DNA fingerprinting and DNA testing in forensics cases became famous in 1995 during the O.J. Simpson trial (SMC History , 2011).
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 ...
U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Science. (2009). DNA Forensics. Retrieved from Human Genome Project Information: http://www.ornl.gov/sci/techresources/Human_Genome/elsi/forensics.shtml
Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) is an acclaimed extraordinary discovery that has contributed great benefits in several fields throughout the world. DNA evidence is accounted for in the majority of cases presented in the criminal justice system. It is known as our very own unique genetic fingerprint; “a chromosome molecule which carries genetic coding unique to each person with the only exception of identical twins (that is why it is also called 'DNA fingerprinting ')” (Duhaime, n.d.). DNA is found in the nuclei of cells of nearly all living things.
"Using DNA to Solve Crimes." U.S. Department of Justice: National Institute of Justice. (September 9, 2014). Web. 29 May 2015.
James, Stuart H., and Jon J. Nordby. "Fingerprints." Forensic Science: An Introduction to Scientific and Investigative Techniques. Boca Raton, FL: CRC, 2005. 341-60. Google Books. Web. 27 Feb. 2014.
Fingerprint usage dates back to the 1800s. Sir William Herschel used the prints as signatures on civil contracts, before they were found useful towards crimes (History of Fingerprints Timeline, 2012). A British surgeon, Dr. Henry Faulds, wrote about using fingerprints for personal identification. He first looked at prints on clay pottery and studied the ridges and patterns that they had made in the clay. In 1891, Juan Vucetich suggested to start fingerprinting criminals to keep the prints on record. The following year, Vucetich identified a print from a woman who killed her two sons. Investigators found her print and were able to correctly match her identity. Charles Darwin’s cousin, Sir Francis Galton, wrote and published the first book about fingerprints. He wrote about how every individual has a unique print by the certain traits of each fingerprint (History of Fingerprints, 2012). The popularity of fingerprints grew greatly in the United States in the early 1900s. Police departments and the FBI began to use the...