DNA RETENTION

Analysis and Application on DNA Retention



Analysis and Application on DNA Retention

Introduction

Everybody's DNA (short for deoxyribonucleic acid) is unique, which makes it useful in investigating criminal cases. Police can use DNA to solve crimes in the same way they use a fingerprint; forensic technicians compare a person's DNA with DNA left at a crime scene to determine if that the person committed the crime. DNA can also be used as evidence at trials to prove a person committed the crime in question.

In the past few years, however, there has been a growing focus on using DNA to prove people's innocence rather than their guilt. In those cases, DNA tests are performed after a person has been convicted in an attempt to prove that the prisoner has been wrongly convicted. Postconviction DNA testing is commonly used in cases where a person was convicted before DNA testing became common or in cases where prisoners believe that they could benefit from DNA testing using newer, more precise techniques developed since their convictions.

Discussion

In addition to the media coverage arising from the impending end of postconviction DNA testing in Florida, individual cases where DNA testing has proved prisoners' innocence has gained much media attention in recent years. The media exposure has helped spark a debate over the extent to which prisoners should have access to DNA testing in a bid to prove their innocence. (Billings, 2002)

DNA and Criminal Justice

DNA is the genetic material that essentially programs cells, providing them with chemical "instructions" on how to operate. DNA is made up of four base nucleotide molecules--adenine, cytosine, guanine and thymine--that form pairs. There are an estimated three billion of those base pairs in every cell. (Connors, 2006)

Merits of DNA Testing and DNA Retention

Supporters say that postconviction DNA testing is an important means for the wrongly convicted to prove their innocence. In testimony before the House Judiciary subcommittee on crime, terrorism and homeland security in July 2003, Innocence Project cofounder Peter Neufeld noted that the first 132 people freed as a result of DNA testing had served a total of 1,397 years in prison. According to Barry Scheck, the other cofounder of the Innocence Project, there are thousands of people nationwide who could prove their innocence through a DNA test. In Florida alone, more than 1,000 convicts have contacted lawyers and groups to help prove their innocence before the October deadline. (Kluger, 2007)

Much of support for postconviction DNA testing comes from the death penalty opponents. It can be an important means for preventing the execution of innocent people, they argue. As of 2002, there were some 3,700 inmates on death row in state prisons and 27 on federal death row. According to the Innocence Project, 12 people sentenced to death have been freed as a result of DNA testing. Many supporters want a federal law guaranteeing postconviction DNA testing to all those sentenced to death. Furthermore, when an innocent person is incarcerated, it means that the real perpetrator remains at large to commit further crimes, ...