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DNA Phenotyping In Criminal Case Study

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DNA was developed into policing in 1986 by Dr. Alec Jeffreys who was from England; he had worked at the University of Leicester. He had implicated DNA profiles for different crime, DNA is different to different individuals just like fingerprints are and knowing that the human body has sixty trillion cells, there are numerous amounts of genetic makeup of chromosomes (Peak, 2009).
Therefore, scientists did establish DNA phenotyping to let police officers have an inkling of what an unknown criminals DNA is. Phenotyping of DNA would be applying an individual’s genetic makeup in generating their personal code, thorough this information, police officers can find out the individuals facial features, skin color, and their ethnic origin, etc. Through …show more content…

DNA can be compelling evidence in a criminal case (Peak, 2009).
Additionally, the FBI uses a different method for DNA, is currently termed “polymerase chain reaction-based-Short Tandem Repeat” typing technique. This would allow the investigators to analyze fluid stains, as well as non-visible staining such as, a ski mask of a bank robber or an envelope that may have something on it. With this type of testing, the evidence collected is compared to the outcome that was collected from the blood or saliva samples that were surrendered from the victims and/or criminals that were possibly associated in the criminal circumstance (Peak, 2009).
Equally important, is another DNA modernization the Combined DNA Index System (CODIS), it consists of DNA delineation collected from the criminals that were declared guilty of sexual assault, homicide, and other forms severe offenses. Detectives are capable of searching and comparing the documentation from the single most cases that are against the system’s huge national directory of DNA genetic identification (Peak,

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But, DNA evidence from crime scenes has helped solve many more cases and found the criminals than those cases where people were wrongly convicted. Penal code 1405 gives convicted felons the chance to submit a written motion to the court to request forensic DNA testing. Penal code 1405 should remain a law because it gives incarcerated

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It can refute a claim of self-defense and put a weapon in the suspect's hand. It can change a story from an alibi to one of consent. The more officers know how to use DNA, the more powerful a tool it becomes.” This proves that DNA evidence is very reliable and is hard evidence that cannot be argued upon. DNA is either found at the scene of the crime or isn’t.

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The leader of this group, named Deirdre, said that scanning extra objects for DNA is important, ”When I talked to DNA experts that they were saying, ‘Yeah, I mean, if you swab that and get some skin cells or saliva and it’s just random, you get no hit on anybody, well then it neither here nor there.’ But they were saying, ‘but if put it in and you get a hit on a serial killer… well now you got enough to charge and convict somebody.’ So what you call relevant and irrelevant you can only do once you have a test result” (111). Deirdre likes to test anything that could possibly lead them to another suspect in the crime. Not everyone in the detective business is, however, not like her.

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Today, the FBI has DNA records of more than 5 million convicted offenders in the database CODIS, or Combined DNA Index System. However, DNA fingerprinting has limitations: it is limited to directly connecting crimes to felons already in CODIS, has high risk of contamination, does not look at familial records, and only analyzes short pieces of DNA. With the advent of more affordable and high resolution genetic technologies after The Human Genome Project, over 35 million people have submitted their DNA to the largest direct-to-consumer genetic companies. Two companies, FamilyTreeDNA and GEDmatch, also allow law enforcement access to their databases. Thus, beginning investigative genetic genealogy, a new method of forensic investigation not only with higher resolution DNA information than DNA fingerprinting but also the capability of finding a suspect from distant relatives.

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DNA profiling was first established in 1985, and has seen extensive use in the field of forensic science and genomics. DNA profiling was developed in 1984 by Alec Jeffreys, after he noticed that certain sequences of highly variable DNA, which were non-coding, were repeated within genes (McKie, 2009). He recognised that each individual has a unique pattern of non-coding DNA sequences therefore allowing them to be profiled. The process has helped the police in solving crime cases over the years, as every individual’s DNA is unique to their characteristics, forensic scientists can use the DNA at a crime scene to identify the victims, reduce the number of wrongful arrests, increase the reliability of evidence, and provide information at crime scenes where there are no witnesses. The purpose of the investigation is to analyse whether newborn infants should have their DNA profiled and stored in a database at birth.

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Although, in our lab report, suspect ones DNA matched the crime scene when cut with enzyme one, this can be explained by how closely related the two suspects are. Therefore two enzymes were used to cut the DNA; the suspect has to match both. Moreover, the limitation to DNA fingerprinting is, if a person were to have an identical twin. This is because identical twins have the same DNA because they come from the same egg. If a suspect’s DNA matched that of the one being tested, and they had an identical twin, a farther investigation would need to be done.

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According to the Australian Law Reform Commission, “A match between the crime scene profile and a defendant’s profile does not prove that the defendant committed the particular offence.” This error however is close to always due to human error. Also according to the Australian Law Reform Commission, “It has been suggested that sample mishandling, mislabelling or contamination is more likely to compromise a DNA analysis than an error in the analysis. Contamination may occur at any stage of the collection, transport or analysis of a DNA sample.” This form of error can be easily prevented by better training the professionals.

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In King, Justice Kennedy referred to the invention of DNA technology as “one of the most significant scientific advancements of our era.” This statement has been criticized, but the impact of DNA technology has been significant. Currently, forensic analysts can use “junk” DNA to identify a person with near certainty. Law enforcement can collect a person’s DNA through saliva. The sample is then uploaded to CODIS, a national network of DNA databases.

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While admitting that the CODIS has been successful in fighting crime, Pearson and DeLascio argue that DNA profiling represents an unwanted invasion of privacy. Because it has proven useful in law enforcement, government at all levels have attempted to expand the range of criminals required to submit DNA samples. Although it is not yet legal at the federal level, some state and local jurisdictions have passed laws requiring DNA from juveniles as well as those who commit only minor crimes In some cases, DNA is taken from innocent Americans and knowingly stored after the individual has been found innocent. Even more threats to civil rights come from unspecified retention timelines of DNA profiles.

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Due to DNA testing now available many cases of wrongful conviction have led them to be exonerated, by a confession from the actual perpetrator or other convincing evidence of innocence that wasn’t available at trail. For a DNA profile to be made they must first find evidence in form of blood, saliva, skin tissue, hair and semen that was recovered from a crime

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The next topic to show why DNA testing is important to law enforcement is the unanalyzed evidence stored away hoping one day to be tested. There was a study done showing over a time frame of five years that there was about 40% of unanalyzed rape and homicide cases that had DNA evidence waiting to be tested. They suspect that there maybe a few causes for this kind of problem. These unanalyzed cases are a part of backlogs and they are terming as cases of justice denied. Some speculate that the investigating officer can be a cause of why evidence is not tested.

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