| DNA FINGERPRINTING | |||||||||||||||||
| Introduction | What Exactly Is DNA? | ||||||||||||||||
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DNA Fingerprinting is somewhat of an infant in the scientific world, but it is having a tremendous impact on the legal system. With new advancements being made, the fingerprinting of DNA carries a bright future in the hopes of eliminating wrong convictions as well as speeding up trials and investigations. Click here to view some DNA Fingerprinting statistics . | DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) is found in every organism and can be considered the blueprint of how the organism is composed. Each DNA composition is unique from each other (except in the case of clones and identical twins) and is consistent throughout every cell in the organism. To determine the DNA composition, also known as the DNA fingerprint, you must start with a sample containing DNA. Some commonly used samples include, but are not limited to blood, saliva, hair, semen and skin flakes (Kirby). | ||||||||||||||||
| History And Future | |||||||||||||||||
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The birth of DNA fingerprinting came in 1980 when American Ray White developed a method for detecting DNA differences. English geneticist Alec Jeffries created genetic profiling using DNA in 1984. These discoveries led to the first U.S. conviction using DNA evidence in 1987 when Colin Pitchfork was found guilty for the rape and murder of two teenage girls when the DNA in a semen sample taken from the crime scene matched the DNA in his blood sample. Scientists perfected a DNA analysis technique in the late 1980�s called RFLP (Restriction Fragment Length Polymorphism) with results reaching up to one in one billion. The problem with the RFLP technique is that it required a fairly sizeable sample with well preserved DNA. Because it was a costly procedure, very few labs could perform the analysis and the results could take up to weeks. Today�s more advanced DNA analysis method, PCR (Polymerase Chain Reaction), has the ability to narrow the field down to one in one million people or greater and can take DNA samples off of stamps, cigarette butts, teeth and bones. The amount of DNA needed for a PCR analysis is a mere 30 pictograms (smaller than a pinpoint) and has presented successful results on samples as old as 75 years. What used to take weeks now takes only days to bring a result as testing has become cheaper giving more labs access to DNA fingerprinting (Rae-Dupree). What does the future of DNA Fingerprinting hold? In the future, I believe DNA will be common in trials and the number of wrong convictions will be 0. Scientists will have deciphered the mass of information given to us by DNA, allowing us know the age, eye color, hair color, skin tone and height from a person in a single DNA strand. The number of those still wrongfully imprisoned will eventually be 0 and only those truly guilty of their crime will be behind bars. Such fantastic developments have been made in the short 11 years of DNA fingerprintings existence that there is no reason to believe this science is going to come to a halt any time soon. In its brief existence is has changed the lives of thousands, from convicting those who once proclaimed to be innocent, to freeing those who were in fact innocent. The field of DNA forensics has only gotten stronger since its birth with over 40 universities worldwide offering it is a major. With new advances being made each day, the hope to eliminate wrong convictions only appears to be stronger and stronger. After all, science is the pursuit of truth and knowledge through facts and the DNA fingerprints do not lie. | |||||||||||||||||
| Double Helix Structure of DNA | |||||||||||||||||
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