Dna Technology Research Paper

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In this paper, I will inform you why DNA Technology is a key piece to the judicial system in convicting and proving innocent individuals who have been accused of committing a crime. Since the late 90’s there have been ten of thousands of cases solved due to the use of DNA Technology. I believe there are a number of ways that DNA Technology enhances our justice system and thousands of cases to back the evidence. Though I believe DNA technology is a great thing, there are those who are skeptical of it.
In the past 15-20 years DNA Technology has advanced tremendously becoming one of the most powerful criminal justice tools. DNA can be used to identify criminals with incredible accuracy when biological evidence exists. DNA can be used to clear …show more content…

The government wanted a system that was linked nationally to store DNA profiles. The system they created is called the Combined DNA Index System or CODIS. The system maintains DNA profiles that were obtained under the local, state, or federal systems. By maintain this information all law enforcement agencies may gain access if need be. “CODIS can compare crime scene evidence to a database of DNA profiles obtained from convicted offenders (Session, 2012). It can also link multiple different crime scenes together by identifying serial criminals. All 50 states and the government have laws requiring that DNA samples be collected from certain offender’s bases on the crime or severity of the …show more content…

Cellmark Diagnostics, a private company in Maryland specializing in this field, performed a DNA test. There was a one in 6 billion chance that someone else would register the same genetic component in a DNA test as Axell. Sharon Jones, Axell’s lawyer believes evidence such as DNA is rushed into the courtroom and is accepted with little examination. “Some experts agree. Thompson and Simon Ford, a molecular biologist at UC Irvine, warn DNA samples taken at a crime scene may become contaminated by bacteria, dye or dirt or degraded by age, heat or other environmental factors. As a result, DNA prints of different individuals may appear quite similar - or prints from the same individual may appear different, he says.” (Hager,

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