Use of DNA in Criminal Investigations Essay examples -- DNA Forensics

ahead the 1980s, courts relied on witness and eyewitness accounts as a main source of evidence. Notoriously unreliable, these techniques consent since faded away to the stunning reliability of desoxyribonucleic acid forensics. In 1984, British geneticist Alec Jeffreys of the University of Leicester discovered an interesting new marker in the human genome. most DNA information is the equal in every human, but the debris code between genes is unique to every person. Junk DNA use for investigative purposes stub be found in blood, saliva, perspiration, sexual fluid, struggle tissue, bone marrow, dental pulp, and hair follicles (Butler, 2011). By analyzing this junk code, Jeffreys found authentic sequences of 10 to 100 base pairs repeated multiple times. These tandem repeats ar also the same for all people, but the number of repetitions is highly variable. Before this discovery, a drop of blood at a crime depiction could only reveal a persons blood type, rundown a few proteins unique to certain people. Now DNA forensics can expose a persons gender, race, susceptibility to diseases, and even appetency for high aggression or drug abuse (Butler, 2011). More importantly, the proof of DNA evidence is extremely powerful in court. Astounded at this technologys almost perfect accuracy, the FBI changed the name of its Serology Unit to the DNA Analysis Unit in 1988 when they began accepting requests for DNA comparisons (Using DNA to calculate Crimes, 2014). There are thirteen standard tandem repeats used in modern forensics, and together these sequences create a DNA profile. Except in the case of identical twins, the probability that two people have the same genetic code at all thirteen core loci is slight than one in one trillion (Jones, 2004). Investigators compare these... ...d Beyond. Forensic Magazine. Web. 29 May 2015.http//www.forensicmag.com/article/dna-forensics-rflp-pcr-str-and-beyond (Fall 2004).Using DNA to Solve Crimes. U.S. Department of justice National Institute of Justice. (September 9, 2014). Web. 29 May 2015.http//www.justice.gov/ag/advancing-justice-through-dna-technology-using-dna-solve-crimesSachs, Jessica Snyder. DNA AND A NEW KIND OF RACIAL PROFILING. 2004http//www.popsci.com/scitech/article/2004-06/dna-and-new-kind-racial-profilingH.M. Wallace, A.R. Jacksona, J. Gruberb, A.D. Thibedeaub. Forensic DNA databases good and legal standards, ScienceDirec, 2014.http//www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2090536X14000239Westphal, Sylvia Pagn. DNA profiles link dope to its source. free-and-easy News, 2003https//www.newscientist.com/article/dn3919-dna-profiles-link-dope-to-its-source/