Forensics has been greatly enhanced by technology. DNA profiling is one of the technologies that has influenced efficiency and credibility of forensic evidence. The FBI first started using DNA in one of its cases in 1988. In Europe, the United Kingdom opened a DNA database in 1955 (Milena, 2006). The main use of the DNA is to compare the evidence collected at crime scene with the suspects. In addition, it helps to establish a connection between the evidence and the criminals. The investigations have been simplified through the use of technology and DNA has been one of the most effective methods in investigations.
The use of DNA databases has been to improve the authenticity of the evidence through matching scene evidence with suspects’ in order to ensure that real criminals are convicted and the wrongly accused ones are exonerated. The databases also determine the organisms and other issues that connect certain things to the crimes already committed. The profiles are collected also establish a connection between first-time and serial criminals depending on the matching profiles.
The three strike laws are mandatory increased sentences, which apply to perpetrators found to have repeated criminal offences. This ensures that criminals are discouraged from perpetrating repeated offences. The law started to be effective in the 1990s, after realization of the fact that criminals were less likely to re-indulge in criminal activities if the sentences were made severe. After the application and adoption of the law, there were less cases of crime and over the years, there have been reduced repeat crimes. The application of technology and new laws enhanced the judicial system and ensures that justice is easily attained. For this reason, ...
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...kes and You're Out” Sentencing Laws? Journal of Quantitative Criminology, 17 (3), 227-246
Gabriel, M. N., Huffine, E. F., Ryan, J. H., Holland, M. M., & Parsons, T. J. (2001). Improved MtDNA sequence analysis of forensic remains using a “mini-primer set” amplification strategy. Journal Forensic Science, 46(2), 247–253.
Milena, D. (2006). DNA in forensics. Hemijski pregled, 47(4), 89-91.
Ogden, R. (2008). Fisheries forensics: the use of DNA tools for improving compliance, traceability and enforcement in the fishing industry. Fish and Fisheries, 2 (4), 462–472.
Woolfe, M., & Primrose, S. (2004). Food forensics: using DNA technology to combat misdescription and fraud. Trends in Biotechnology, 22, (5), 222-226.
Zimring, F. E., Kamin, S., & Gordon, H. (2003). Punishment and Democracy: Three Strikes and You're Out in California. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
Office of the Inspector General. (2010). Review of the Federal Bureau of Investigation Laboratory’s Forensic DNA Case Backlog. U.S. Department of Justice.
In certain situations, it is necessary to identify DNA retreived from a sample. When there is a
In California, the most notable reasons for this law were promoted by Fresno resident, Mike Reynolds. In 1992, his daughter was attacked and murdered by two men whom were parolees. The gunman was killed in a shoot-out with police, while the other offender only received a nine year prison sentence. This outraged many, including Mr. Reynolds. He then approached two democratic assemblymen, then they drafted the first three strikes bill, which was defeated. Mr. Reynolds kept campaigning to help pass this bill. He soon got most of his backing from another case, the Polly Klaas case. In this incident a twelve-year old girl was abducted from her bedroom in San Francisco and murdered by Richard Allen Davis. Davis had a lengthy criminal history, and had been released from prison bore he committed this heinous crime. This very case became the public’s main tool in wanting to put an end to “career criminals.” So, in 1994 the bill was finally pas...
Shepherd, Joanna. "Fear of the first strike: the full deterrent effect of California." Journal of Legal Studies 31.1 (2002): 159-201. Web. 12 May 2015. .
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.
The impact of 'three strikes' laws. Christian Science Monitor, 91, 1-5.
The purpose of the law was to protect the general public from repeat offenders and effectively “deter” criminals (Jones 2012). The three-strikes law was seen as necessary in states because of a movement referred to as the victims’ movement. The movement brought violent and sex offenders into the public’s attention. As a result, the states created the three-strikes law in order to “silence” the public (Jones 2012). However, the three strikes law doesn’t come without certain consequences, such as over-crowded prison facilities and increase in cost (Jones 2012). The three strike law purpose was to deter crime in the United States; however, research has concluded that the law has not in fact deter crime. For instance, in California the crime rate by 13.8 percent; however, the crime rate declined prior the enactment of the three-strikes law (Jones 2012). The three strikes law also did not display a significant drop in crime rates in populous cities (Jones 2012). One study researched the violent crimes in states that had similar three-strikes laws as those in California and states that did not have a three-strike law. Figure one in the research charted the crime rates in states with a three-strikes law and figure two charted the crime rates in states without a three-strikes law. The two figures verify that the three-strikes law does not contribute to the decline in crime rates because the rate for crime in the
Schiraldi, Vincent, Jason Ziedenberg, and Eric Lotke. "An Examination Impact of 3-strikes Laws 10 Years after Its Enactment." Justice Policy Institute. 10 Sept. 2004. Web. 15 July 2011.
Easteal, McCleod, and Reed. DNA Profiling: Principles, Pitfalls and Potential. Switzerland: Harwood Academic Publishers, 1991.
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).
"Using DNA to Solve Crimes." U.S. Department of Justice: National Institute of Justice. (September 9, 2014). Web. 29 May 2015.
“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).
Forensic science has now been recognized as an important part of the law enforcement team to help solve crimes and cold cases. The advances in technology are being used each day and we must continue to strive to develop better advances in this field. The recent discovery of using DNA in criminal cases has helped not only positively identify the suspect, but it has helped exonerate hundreds of innocent individuals. “With new advances in police technology and computer science, crime scene investigation and forensic science will only become more precise as we head into the future.” (Roufa, 2017) Forensic science and evidence helps law enforcement officials solve crimes through the collection, preservation and analysis of evidence. By having a mobile crime laboratory, the scene gets processed quicker and more efficiently. Forensic science will only grow in the future to be a benefit for the criminal justice
Punishing the unlawful, undesirable and deviant members of society is an aspect of criminal justice that has experienced a variety of transformations throughout history. Although the concept of retribution has remained a constant (the idea that the law breaker must somehow pay his/her debt to society), the methods used to enforce and achieve that retribution has changed a great deal. The growth and development of society, along with an underlying, perpetual fear of crime, are heavily linked to the use of vastly different forms of punishment that have ranged from public executions, forced labor, penal welfare and popular punitivism over the course of only a few hundred years. Crime constructs us as a society whilst society, simultaneously determines what is criminal. Since society is always changing, how we see crime and criminal behavior is changing, thus the way in which we punish those criminal behaviors changes.
The process of gathering evidence largely depends on the role of discretion by the police. Once police have decided to pursue a reported crime, they then begin the process of gathering evidence. To ensure that the process of gathering evidence is lawful, the police must follow the procedure outlined in the Evidence Act 1995 (NSW), which describes the manner in which evidence can be collected. This act imposes certain limits on the way police can gather evidence and the types of evidence that can be used. The Act is able to protect the rights of citizens by making it a requirement for the police to gain necessary legal documentation, such as search warrants, in order to obtain some types of evidence and thus, protects the rights of ordinary systems. In more recent times, the use of technology has come to play a major role in the gathering of evidence and with this comes complications in the law. New technologies in relation to the criminal investigation process are mainly in reference to DNA evidence, genetic material that can place a suspect at the scene of a crime. The introduction of DNA evidence into the criminal investigation process has been extremely effective in achieving justice, as it is able to secure convictions. Initially, there were some setbacks to the use of DNA evidence