Over the years, juvenile crime has become a severe national problem in the United States. Recently, this issue has grown with the dramatic rise in adolescent violence, which become more acute between the mid-1980s ad late 1990s. Although the juvenile crime rate has decreased in the late 1990s, it has not alleviated the concern of the law courts dealing with such cases in the country. Many states have begun to develop legislative measures and policies towards the juvenile in the late 1980s. The primary response to juvenile crime has been the enactment of laws to differentiate the juvenile court and adult courts. Due to this reason, the US has adopted a DNA collection policy from anyone apprehended by federal law enforcement agents. This paper mainly focuses on the potential issues on the DNA collection, both positive and detrimental to the citizens, and explaining how this position will shape the criminal justice policy regarding juveniles.
The significance of the DNA collection policy to the juveniles is to provide any evidence that can result from DNA tests of the suspects. DNA collection has proven valuable in assisting the federal law enforcement agents in solving crimes, in motivating applied efforts to arrest the offenders who must provide their DNA samples for analysis and investigations (Julie, 2012). Julie E. Samuel’s article on collecting DNA on a juvenile is credible since she has used the primary source to gather information through samplings and interviews. According to Julie (2012), the states have ordered juveniles, mostly those adjudicated delinquents, in submitting their DNA sample. In the beginning, the state legislative body was only concerned with sexual and violent offenders in the DNA collection policy due to the likelihood that disputative evidence. For example, pieces of evidence are blood and semen that are transmitted during these crimes.
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DNA collection to the juvenile also acts as a critical tool to discover many different types of crime scenes to identify many offenders who commit the crime repeatedly in different kinds of sin (Julie, 2012). Thus, the US government has begun to expand the DNA collection laws to acquire a wide array of offenses. The federal government has also encouraged and supported DNA database expansion in the form of funding the state laboratories to work on the increasing volume of forensic evidence and offender's DNA samples. Therefore, this database would have more significant and positive impacts on solving and preventing all kind of offenses which make more straightforward for the detective to arrest all the offenders.
The collection of DNA from juveniles consists of two components, which include prevention and rehabilitation. Prevention and rehabilitation effects in the enacted policy of DNA collection are practiced in various states. According to Kevin (2014), the development of the DNA database in collecting and storing the DNA samples will create a robust prevention and rehabilitation effects. Kelvin's ideas on compulsory DNA collection in juveniles are outlined in his article. His methodology shows the credibility of his source since the data is well analyses and secondary sources available in his research. In rehabilitation, care and treatment are provided to juvenile offenders consistent with the prevention of delinquency. The law acts as a parent protector. For example, the collection law protects the child from further effects from the crime committed to them through rehabilitation, where the protection, treatments, and guidance of children is provided (Kevin, 2014). Improvement of the offenders seeks to help them to make better decisions despite the consequences of their choices.
Gerald La Potter (2017) has analyzed the negative impacts that can result from the collection and retention of DNA. He is a well-known author of forensic sciences. The ideas in his articles are relevant since the methodologies used in his research are concerned in this study. DNA collection can lead to adverse effects on citizens from various factors during the process of collecting. Forensic science is the main contributing factor. Wrong convictions and erroneous judgments usually occur during the forensic sciences' analysis of the collected DNA data (Gerald, 2017). A forensic scientist performs tests, interprets, studies the results, give conclusions, and defend their findings. As a result, forensic sciences have been related to wrongful judgment on the juvenile and are addressed by various reviews and social media as faulty, misleading, and junk science. Blood groups and secretor status from the DNA collected are significant wrongful judgment done by the forensic scientists. For example, during the testing process, the DNA sample can be wrongly tested, wrong results given, and also the wrong conclusion made. These errors can provide the details of another innocent individual, leaving the actual criminals.
According to Gerald (2017), there are many wrongfully convicted individuals as a result of DNA tests as of 2016. Some possible contributing causes for wrongful judgments include misidentification by the eye witness, false confession by the scientists, misconducts, and mismanagement of government on the law of DNA collection and invalid forensic sciences (Gerald, 2017). These factors can lead to unrightfully charges against an innocent defendant that were not present in the case that led to the judgment of an innocent person. Therefore, the government should be aware that these factors associated with DNA collection have detrimental effects on citizens. The results might have a lasting impact on people's lives. Therefore, they must pursue every effort to identify and understands the strength and weaknesses of the individuals who are responsible for DNA collection, analysis, testing, and giving conclusions.
In conclusion, the US government has begun a policy to collect the DNA from all the people arrested by federal law enhancement agents. DNA collection can be of great significance in preventing solving juvenile crimes in the USA. The process motivates the federal government to arrest the offenders by ordering their compulsory DNA test samples. This policy protects the child from being affected by providing treatments to prevent further effects. However, the collection policy can also lead to adverse ling lasting effects to the individuals. Various factors, such as wrongful judgments, are done in DNA testing and analysis, which can lead to charges of innocent persons. Finally, the federal government should be aware of the effects and put more effort into ensuring the process runs smoothly by qualified forensic scientists to avoid any erroneous convictions.
References
Gerald M. LA Porte (2017). Wrongful convictions and DNA exonerations in forensic sciences. Retrieved from https://nij.ojp.gov/topics/articles/wrongful-convictions-and-dna-exonerations-understanding-role-forensic-science
Julie E Samuel, (2012). Collection DNA from Juveniles. Retrieves from: https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/grants/237193.pdf
Kevin Lapp, Compulsory DNA Collection and a Juvenile's Best Interests, 14 U. Md. L.J. RaceRelig. Gender& Class53 (2014). Retrieved from: http://digitalcommons.law.umaryland.edu/rrgc/vol14/iss1/3
