Over the recent past, there has been a great advancement as far as forensic investigations are concerned. DNA has emerged as one of the most powerful criminal justice tools because of its ability to facilitate the identification of criminals with a significant margin of accuracy in cases where biological evidence exists. It is imperative to note that DNA from physical evidence can be used both ways, that is to convict suspects and exonerate those who have been accused based on false accounts ( Buckleton et al., 2016 ). For this coursework, I will explore how physical evidence in the form of DNA is critical for solving crimes in contemporary society. There have been emerging stories regarding the successful use of forensic evidence to solve crimes. Physical evidence from DNA can be used to solve crimes by matching a suspect’s DNA to that of evidence that has been found at a crime scene after which comparisons are made ( Buckleton et al., 2016 ). In cases where the suspect has not been identified, the DNA information is matched to that of the DNA database to identify the criminal.
One good example is the Riverside Illinois case where two men were arrested after police matched positive DNA from evidence collected from the crime scene. On 12 th February 2016, a victim reported their car stolen and upon launching an investigation, police found the following month in Chicago (Earnest, 2018). In the car, police said they found personal property belonging to the suspects. The detectives went on to take the recovered evidence and present it to the Illinois State Police Crime Lab where it was tested. Among the items that were critical in the case were cigarette butt and a handgun shell. It took the lab two years to come up with viable evidence to identify the perpetrators of the crime. The findings from the DNA matched that of the assailants in the felony database in the state of Illinois. One of the suspects, Brandon Hoynes, was already in prison where he was being held on different charges (Earnest, 2018). Together with his partner in crime Steven Shea , the two were arraigned in court again and charged for their crime. Apparently, the two were street gang members who had terrorized the suburban area. Forensic evidence had proved to be a very useful tool for solving crime and ensuring offenders are put behind bars where they belong.
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Personally, I have also been a victim of crime together with my mother some years back. I clearly remember the night I was at home with my mother over Halloween. It was a very exciting time and we had celebrated the festive day pretty well. At night, we retired to bed but some minutes past midnight, we heard a loud bang downstairs. Apparently, some burglars had broken into our house in an attempt to rob us of our valuables. One of them was already in my mom’s room robbing her of her precious jewels whereas the others s stormed into mine to take whatever they could find of value. The good thing for us is that they did not harm us in any way because we were very cooperative. After they left, we called the police and they came in with their forensic investigation team to try and see if they could gather any piece of evidence that could be used to identify the culprits.
After a careful search, the police found a sample of blood at the door, probably from one of the burglars who had broken the glass to the door. The sample was collected and taken to the lab for analysis. We eagerly waited for the results and at some point, we had started to give up hope because it was taking too long. After five months, the police called us to the station and informed us that they had run the blood DNA from the crime scene and matched it to their criminal database and found a match. A search for the suspect was initiated and within no time, he was found together with his gang. It gave us such a huge relief that the perpetrators of the crime had finally been apprehended and we could live in peace knowing they had been convicted and put behind bars where they belonged.
References
Earnest, A. (2018). “DNA Evidence Solves 2016 Car Theft in Riverside: Cops.” Patch media. Retrieved https://patch.com/illinois/lagrange/dna-evidence-solves-2016-car-theft-riverside-cops
Buckleton, J. S., Bright, J. A., & Taylor, D. (Eds.). (2016). Forensic DNA evidence interpretation . Florida: CRC press.
