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DNA evidence is something that we could have only dreamed of prior to its introduction.
Although crimes were solved prior to its inception, DNA allowed for police officers to quickly
test skin, hair, and fluid left behind at a crime scene. According to CODIS or the Combined DNA
Index System, it “was designed to assist law enforcement by providing potential investigative
information in those cases in which crime scene evidence has yielded a DNA profile but no
suspect has been identified.” (Federal Bureau of Investigation, 2016) While not always
conclusive, DNA does have a high percentage rate of providing an accurate match to law
enforcement officers during an investigation. There is however the possibility for the test to be
manipulated or misinterpreted. “Although DNA evidence has long been regarded as the gold
standard of forensic science, lawyers should not assume that the tests were performed or
interpreted properly in every case.” (Thompson, 2012). As with everything in life continuing to
investigate to the fullest and not relying on one source of evidence will ultimately lead to better
results. While DNA can be manipulatively placed to accuse another, DNA evidence
revolutionized the criminal investigation process because it provides qualitative evidence for
police, has absolved previously convicted criminals of crimes, and it is easy to test and leads to
quick results.
DNA has brought a revolution to the way we analyze crimes and lead to convictions in our
criminal justice system today. However, with every revolution, there is still the potential for
something to possibly go wrong or create difficulties. DNA while providing a large degree of
certainty does have the potential to place innocent lives behind bars. One of the initial ways that
this could occur would be through the deliberate placement, manipulation or tampering of DNA
evidence. The potential for someone to plant another’s DNA at the scene of the crime is possible
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and has occurred before. The problem is that when someone holds a large enough grudge and
wants to frame someone for a crime, placing DNA evidence can be a very convincing thing to
lead to a conviction. One may ask what would cause someone to fall to a level as to do this but
there are people in the world that make choices that have lasting negative effects on others.
Ephesians 4: 31-32 states, “Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put
away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one
another, as God in Christ forgave you.” This is vitally important for peope to remember because
otherwise the grudge they play could have undetermined lasting effects.
DNA also has the ability not to provide a 100% match with a person. God created us in
Genesis 2:7 when he stated, “Then the Lord God formed the man of dust from the ground and
breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature.” When he did
this, he made humans all the same but with very distinct minute differences. The credibility of
DNA results are determined by the type of DNA profile that is created either partial or full. These
profiles vary significantly in what it can tell you about a person, but they are very linked to the
quality of the DNA evidence being analyzed. If for instance the DNA evidence was mishandled,
or damaged, then could potential only create a partial profile and could give only certain traits
about the person that it belonged to. Ironically, “humans are thought to have DNA that is 99.9%
identical, but the remaining 0.1% makes us individuals, marking us out as unique. The fact that
humans and chimpanzees have just a 1% difference in their DNA further highlights how
meaningful a small difference can be. Generally, the more closely related we are to someone, the
more similar our DNA will be to theirs.”(Elster, 2018).
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Finally, similar to the first manner in which DNA can be planted at the scene of a crime, DNA
can also be tampered or manipulated to change or give a false match or no match at all. While
highly illegal and again difficult to do, a person committing such a crime deserve to be punished
to the maximum extent of the law. Proverbs 10:9 discusses the importance of telling the truth and
maintaining unbiased when it states, “Whoever walks in integrity walks securely, but he who
makes his ways crooked will be found out.” If it cam down to where people were regularly
maiputlating or falsifying DNA evidence, then they would perhaps through all of the cridibity for
DNA evidence out the window.
DNA evidence is vital to police investigations because it can perhaps give investigators distinct
clues about what happened at the crime scene. Police often do a diligent job ot ensure that the
evidence at a crime scene is quickly taped off as to not have it become contaiminated. Once the
likelihood or possibility for a contamination determination to come, defense attornies will
instantly argue that the evidence against their client could be contaiminated. “‘The more evidence
you have, the more solid a case you can build,’ says Dr Durdle. ‘There is also the risk that if
evidence is not collected, it may be lost. This can be due to environmental conditions
(particularly if the crime scene is outside), people cleaning up, deliberate tampering by offenders
or associates, having to reopen an area to the public etc.”(Durdle, 2017). These multiple different
factors could lead to a criminal walking free instead of justice being served.
Testing DNA is easy and can be accomplished in a short amount of time which allows for
criminal investigations to move faster and more smoothly. DNA testing can be completed with a
minor inconvenient swab of the individual and then the sample is analyzed in a lab and matched
to various people based on the type of DNA profile presented. “DNA can be extracted from many
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sources, such as hair, bone, teeth, saliva, and blood. DNA samples can be collected at crime
scenes, from people who might have been present when the crime occurred, and from crime
victims.”(Congressional Research Service, 2021). The Congressional Research Service here
shows that DNA tests can essentially be conducted anywhere and on anybody due to their
simplicity.
Wrongfully convicted people in prison is the final area that we see a majority of people
benefit from. People who were convicted prior to the start of DNA, we convicted based soley on
the facts of each case, much as though our cases are now, however without the handy DNA
evidence present. “It’s not only been used to solve countless crimes, but exonerated people
wrongly convicted, as well as solved several cold cases.”(Durdle, 2017) This is one of the most
important and revolutionizing factors when dealing with DNA evidence is that it has the potential
to free so many wrongly convicted individuals, and help bring true justice. Isaiah 30:18 states,
“Therefore the Lord waits to be gracious to you, and therefore he exalts himself to show mercy
to you. For the Lord is a God of justice; blessed are all those who wait for him.” This is vitally
important to remember because without faith in God that one day a conviction could be
overturned, the person will loose all hope of anything getting better.
DNA evidence has revolutionized the ability to properly conduct thourough investigations and
send criminals to jail. While DNA can be manipulatively placed to accuse another, DNA
evidence revolutionized the criminal investigation process because it provides qualitative
evidence for police, has absolved previously convicted criminals of crimes, and it is easy to test
and leads to quick results. DNA is not perfect and can indeed provide unconclusive results to
criminal investigators looking into crimes. The ability for someone to maliciously plant false
DNA evidence is forever possible in our day in age and could potentially lead to a wrongful
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conviction. All this being said, DNA evidence is extremely useful and helpful in solving crimes.
It can provide substantial evidence to the police and can be used to help track down the actual
criminal. “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not
seen.”(Hebrews 11:1)
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References
Congressional Research Service. (2021). The use of DNA by the criminal justice system and the
federal role: Background, current law, and grants. In Congressional Research Service (p.
R41800). https://fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/R41800.pdf
Durdle, A. (2017, August 15). How DNA analysis has revolutionised criminal justice | this. This.;
Deakin University. https://this.deakin.edu.au/career/how-dna-analysis-has-revolutionised-
criminal-justice
Elster, N. (2018, July 12). How Forensic DNA Evidence Can Lead to Wrongful Convictions |
JSTOR Daily. JSTOR Daily. https://daily.jstor.org/forensic-dna-evidence-can-lead-
wrongful-convictions/
Federal Bureau of Investigation. (2016). CODIS and NDIS fact sheet | federal bureau of
investigation. Federal Bureau of Investigation.
https://www.fbi.gov/services/laboratory/biometric-analysis/codis/codis-and-ndis-fact-
sheet
Starr, D. (2018, October 26). Forensics gone wrong: When DNA snares the innocent. Science |
AAAS. https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2016/03/forensics-gone-wrong-when-dna-
snares-innocent
William C. Thompson, Laurence D Mueller, Dan E. Krane. (2012). Forensic DNA statistics:
still controversial in some cases. NACDL.org.
https://escholarship.org/content/qt6zc9g3pt/qt6zc9g3pt_noSplash_4a8fa89d5aefd8acc86d
9bbd6008df8a.pdf
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