In the example above of rape, it may be that an ex-boyfriend of the victim might be suspected of the crime. By taking a DNA sample from that suspect and by comparing it to DNA evidence gathered from the victim, this person can easily be ruled in or out as the perpetrator. This is crucial to the process of criminal investigation. As suspects are ruled out those facts guide the investigators to work more vigorously in other directions.
However, DNA can also serve justice after conviction has occurred. The Law School at Northwestern University has run a program for some years now serving selected people who believe they were convicted wrongly. By the year 2002, they had proven that 18 prisoners on Illinois' "Death Row" had been wrongfully convicted (Zwerdling, 1998). In Virginia, Earl Washington was freed from Virginia's "death row" after ten years when DNA testing proved that he was not the person who had raped and killed a victim (Barry, 2005).
Under the United States system of justice, we are obligated to find and convict those who commit serious crimes to the very best of our ability. At the same time, as a country with the
DNA plays a valuable dual role, then, in the pursuit of justice, because justice is handed down by flawed human beings. Occasionally those who prosecute can become over-zealous and seek to convict on flimsy evidence. DNA evidence is a powerful protection from such mistakes. At the same time, those who believe someone has been wrongly convicted can become over-zealous. Such emotionally-charged thinking can cause mistakes on both sides of the issue. Impartial, scientific evidence such as DNA testing removes emotion and opinion and helps our justice system look at the facts of the case dispassionately, impartially and fairly. This makes DNA evidence, when it is available, a crucial and invaluable tool in both the prosecution and appeal phases of our justice system.
Bibliography
Barry, Doug. "Cases in the News," in Truth in Justice. Accessed via the Internet 9/5/05. http://www.truthinjustice.org/inthenews.htm
Zolper, Thomas. 1996. "Court Upholds Murder Conviction Based on DNA." The Record (Bergen County, NJ), Oct. 18.
Zwerdling, Daniel. 1998. "All Things Considered." National Public Radio (NPR), Nov. 15.
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