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The role of forensic science in investigations
The role of forensic science in investigations
How DNA has helped the police
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Majority of cases have made mistakes and convicted the wrong people due to the wrong information due to the forensic science which LaPorte mentioned in the article “Wrongful Convictions and DNA Exonerations: Understanding the Role of,” that “One of the greatest tragedies in the criminal justice system is when a person is convicted for a crime he/she did not commit.” It has been multiple times that mistakes were made yet today there is still problems occurring. No one will ever be perfect but their results need to be around 90% to make sure they have enough information to make the arrest and to send to person away for life. In order to prevent his, there needs to be more test, people who can be tested with this sensitive information. There
are multiple ways to get an answer, such as hair samples and DNA, which in Oien’s article, “Forensic Hair Comparison: Background Information for Interpretation,” because “Hair evidence is one of the most common types of evidence encountered in criminal investigations.” DNA and Hair Samples are what need to be very accurate, because without this there won’t be solved cases and many innocent people will just be sent to jail because someone says. With this, evidence won’t always be 100% accurate and neither will people. One test won’t be enough in order to put someone away for life, there needs to more evidence and evidence to back that up. Not everyone will be the right person for the job, but when an issue similar comes up, there needs to be back up plans in order to save the information that will be released so test can taken to check if the first test was valid or invalid. Those who have been convicted, had to spend time in prison, and later found not guilty won’t get that time back and neither will those on the case, but it is always better to triple check your work and producers so that mistakes like this will be prevented in the future. Technology has been added to the Forensic Science area to help the workers, so that simple mistakes won’t be made. Multiple specialist need to watch each other's work, so no one is convicted wrongly, only those who are truly guilty.
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
At the time of the murder of which David Milgaard was accused of committing he was just 16 years old. He was a hippie, constantly in trouble. Even before he was a teenager he was getting into trouble. His parents and teachers considered him impulsive; he resisted authority (Regina Leader Post, 1992, as cited in Anderson & Anderson 1998). He was removed from kindergarten because he was considered to be a negative influence on the other children. When he was thirteen he spent time in a psychiatric centre (Anderson & Anderson, 1998)
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.
I personally feel that this is a much more reliable and accurate than relying on the testimony of witnesses. I believe through the use of science we as a society can now make sure that the guilty are caught and punished while the innocent are protected from wrongful prosecution. However the eyewitness should not be completely left out of the case against the possible offender. After it is determined through scientific evidence, in this case DNA, that the physically involved in the crime then witnesses can be brought in to give testimony that the offender was present at the crime scene or the victim can be sure that the accused was truly the one involved in the actual crime.
Wrongful conviction is an issue that has plagued the Canadian Justice System since it came to be. It is an issue that is hard to sort out between horrific crimes and society’s desire to find truth and justice. Incidences of wrongful conviction hit close to home right here in Saskatchewan as well as across the entire nation. Experts claim “each miscarriage of justice, however, deals a blow to society’s confidence in the legal justice system” (Schmalleger, Volk, 2014, 131). Professionals in the criminal justice field such as police, forensic analyst, and prosecutors must all be held accountable for their implications in wrongful convictions. There are several reasons for wrongful convictions such as racial bias, false confessions, jailhouse informants, eyewitness error, erroneous forensic science, inappropriate, professional and institutional misconduct and scientific limitations that society possessed prior to the technological revolution (Roberts, Grossman, 2012, 253 – 259). The introduction of more advanced DNA analysis has been able to clear names and prevent these incidences from occurring as often. As well as the formation of foundations such as The Association of Defense for the Wrongly Convicted (AIDWYC). Unfortunately, mistakes made in the Canadian Justice System have serious life altering repercussions for everyone that is involved. Both systematic and personal issues arise that require deeper and more intense analysis.
Abstract; This paper explors the effects DNA fingerprinting has had on the trial courts and legal institutions. Judge Joseph Harris states that it is the "single greatest advance in the search for truth since the advent of the cross examination (Gest, 1988)." And I tend to agree with Judge Joseph's assertion, but with the invention and implementation of DNA profiling and technology has come numerous problems. This paper will explore: how DNA evidence was introduced into the trial courts, the effects of DNA evidence on the jury system and the future of DNA evidence in the trial courts.
“In matters of truth and justice, there is no difference between large and small problems, for issues concerning the treatment of people are all the same”.(Albert Einstein).Many people have different points of view of what is justice of what happens in the courtroom. Opinions have been heard of whether or not DNA evidence should be admissible in murder trials. Not only have people try to introduce this kind of evidence in their case, but some have been trying to avoid of DNA evidence in their case. Like any important matter they all have their own pros and cons to conclude whether or not it’s worth presenting to a courtroom full of juries. It takes hard workers to give background information
After reading, DNA testing is has the biggest reason why people have been exonerated. An estimate of about 336 people have been exonerated by DNA testing and 20 of them who have served time on death row. “ To date 336 people in the United States have been exonerated by DNA testing, including 20 who served time on death row.” (“Exonerating the Innocent.”) This quote proves that I am credible, because it shows that I researched it, and found out facts about the innocent project.
In conclusion, I feel that my opinion is justified because I can not believe that our society would falsely convict innocent people. Every human being is unique and does not have DNA like any other person. Forensic scientists use DNA profiling to help find criminals. If no two people have DNA alike, I feel that this is one of the most accurate ways to convict a criminal beyond a reasonable doubt.
... the crime scenes contain many mixtures of more than one person’s DNA, which can lead to false accusations. Even if there is evidence of a DNA match at the crime scene doesn’t mean that they committed the crime it depends on the evidence towards the person. Again criminals could still mess with the DNA and evidence of a crime scene, which can lead to many suspects of a crime. For example someone who wanted to falsely accuse a certain person could have planted a cigarette. But just because DNA of a person was there doesn’t mean it was them. DNA shouldn’t be the final proof because there could be many other things to prove a person’s innocence or guilt like getting a video of something that could possibly connect to the crime. Witnesses could be a big part in a crime as well because they could document everything they saw or heard and be used against a person in court.
The theories of Anderson, Hogg,Walker and Wilson are justified opinions and could be advantageous to the criminal justice system. However, even if these theories are implemented into our society, corruption will still always occur. Unfortunately, it is just part of human nature. It is futile to establish new methods of judgement without considering the fact that corruption occurs throughout all levels of society. Juries, police, and lawyers can all be persuaded and succumb to corruption if it suits their needs to do so. Likewise, DNA samples can be tampered with or plagued by human error. It is a vicious circle and until human beings change, miscarriages will continue to occur. Miscarriages of justice are definitely not exceptional and occur much more frequently than most people realise. They place a great burden on our society as a whole and cause injustices and hardships to many people. Just because we do not hear about them, does not mean they don't exist. As Walker states "since justice is applied by fallible, prejudiced human beings, miscarriages are inevitable".
Whereas the real picture of forensic evidence is unlike what is represented in movies and television shows where a fingerprint or a trace of hair is found, then it’s game over for the criminal. Reality is not as straightforward. As more people are exposed to the unreal forensic world through television and media the likeliness for a wrong conviction increases with juries assuming the evidence involves more science than what it really does, this is known as the CSI Effect. Further education and training is needed for the people of the court, the forensic specialists, and so called experts. The people in courts do not question any of the ‘professionals’ and just trust in their expertise. The court could overcome this perception by requiring explanation of error rates in a forensic field. To do this, testing examiner error rates will be necessary which means further research. Forensic science has such a large effect on the prosecution of suspects, experts have been known to provide questionable and at times incorrect evidence. When a false conviction occurs the true perpetrator is set free. Once realized, the public doubts the justice system and the reliability of the forensic evidence even more. At this point in time, forensic is an inexact
Proponents of expanding the use of DNA tests in the legal arena like to point out that these tests will exonerate truly innocent individuals. DNA tests have exonerated some wrongly imprisoned people but it is disingenuous to think this is the real reason for growing use of DNA tests. The real reason for all of this is, of course, to help prosecutors obtain more convictions. It is thus worth keeping in mind that the criminal justice system currently reflects deep class and race biases. Journalist and attorney David Cole argues persuasively in his recently published book No Equal Justice that this is no accident. Rather law enforcement, the legal system, and the prison system operate in a way that insures the disproportionate imprisonment of poor people and people of color. If the government only conducts DNA tests of people convicted of crimes, it will fortify and expand this already unfair process.
Law enforcement officers come across a plethora of cases each year. Every case which is investigated and DNA collected should not be sent to a lab. Every crime that is investigated meets different requirement and elements. For instance, when investigating a burglary and blood is found at the scene, DNA is collected and attached to the case file. If the burglary had no other crime involved such as rape or a homicide, just stolen goods, why would the agency spend the resources to just to catch a petty theft at night. Crimes are committed each day and there are priorities for crimes, most server crimes that involve life and or sexual related crimes should be investigated and all DNA sent to the lab to be analyzed and compared to I the database. In a perfect world we would be able to catch all criminals with DNA because in away every criminal leaves DNA at the scene, whether it be hair, saliva, sweat, blood, mucus, and finger prints, Locard's exchange principle.
The purpose of criminal justice system is to establish guilt beyond reasonable doubt and for this purpose forensic evidence has apparently played a major role. But looking at the present scenario, it can be observed that the basic purpose or rather the advantage of forensic evidence over other evidences seem to have been rendered as defeated. As the certainty, which was offered by such evidence is not fully reliable and has been construed wrongly by the courts. Hence it can be observed from above mention points that forensic science has failed in providing a better administration of criminal justice system.