DNA in the Court essays

DNA in the Court essays DNA is somewhat new in the forensic world. Before DNA, people were tried and convicted based on fingerprint analysis, the Greiss test, and lie detectors. However, all of these procedures have proven to be less reliable than DNA. DNA is the genetic make up of a person. In the book article DNA in Court by William Tucker, Tucker pointed out that no two people, except identical twins, have the same genetic makeup (Tucker 577). This is helpful because it means that there will be less people falsely convicted of crimes. Therefore, it is not the DNA evidence that is being debated; it is the procedures that are followed that are being debated. Samples could be accidentally switched or mislabeled- any number of things might happen. As a result of all this an innocent person might be convicted of a crime (Tucker 581). Tucker believes that the only problem with DNA testing is that false positives could send an innocent person to jail. Everyday on the news or in the newspaper, one hears about another person being released due to conclusive DNA evidence that clears this person. Another major problem that arises in forensic DNA typing is contamination, stated Peter J. Neufeld and Neville Coleman in When Science Takes the Witness Stand (Neufeld Coleman 571). That person released may have been cleared of the crime they were originally charged with. However, what if they had committed the crime? Now this person is walking the streets and cant be tried again. Any number of things could have happened to the DNA sample. Bacteria could have affected it. It may have been mislabeled or the chart may have been misread. This is an example of a false negative. This person can now go out and hurt or kill another person. According to Neufeld and Coleman, a company named Lifecodes was declaring DNA matches outside the five percent range of error. In a blind test, ...