Introduction
This essay will discuss DNA profiling, in particular the history of DNA profiling, types of DNA analysis and DNA data bases amongst others. DNA profiling is a useful method to aid in forensic sciences, in identifying people who may be potential criminals.It is the method used to identify individuals based on the unique sequence of nucleotides in each person’s DNA (de Fontaine, 2013, p. 8).My aim is to establish whether or not DNA profiling can lower the crime rate in South Africa. South Africa is still listed as a third world country and may or may not have the means to use DNA profiling as a forensics tool.
History of DNA profiling
Professor Sir Alec Jefferys together with Dick Flavell from Amsterdam developed the first
…show more content…
Close biological relatives maybe linked to the profiles obtained at a crime scene. It is linked to first- order relatives such as brothers and sisters, as well as parent/ child relationships.
Since 2003, the United Kingdom have conducted 200 familial searches which have resulted in 40 serious crimes as of May 2011.The search is thus not based on genetics alone. Age and more important the geographic location are linked together with DNA profiling to produce a list relatives that could be involved. For the database to be successful, a relative must be in the database for it search for a relative ( Combined DNA Index System).
Limitations of using DNA data bases
In Sweden, Corinna Kruse’s believes that DNA evidence is not used in courts on its own.The evidence is used to tell a story which has the potential to be inaccurate (Heinemann, 2012, p. 255).
Victor Toom’s article compares the National forensic DNA structures in the Data bases of England, Wales and Holland.He found important differences between the databases of these countries and how they are used in the legal system. No data base seems to be without its problems and there is a need for “best practice