ipl-logo

DNA Exoneration Case Study

547 Words3 Pages

Statement of the Problem DNA has become a vital part of criminal investigations. DNA can include and exclude suspects of criminal investigations. During a criminal investigation, all DNA should be collected, properly preserved and tested, but at times this does not occur or the technology was not available for this process to occur. In addition, DNA has become an imperative portion of exoneration cases. However, with Texas and Illinois having the greatest amount of exonerations in the United States, according to data from the CBS News team (CBS News, 2014, para. 5), states the initial use of DNA was not held to standards or technology was advanced. DNA has impacted the exonerations in Texas and Illinois, among other states. According to the article Study of DNA data shows potential for wrongful convictions written in the Richmond Times, a study was conducted which shared the results of approximately 6 percent of people convicted in the past 15 years could be innocent as the result of DNA testing not being available at that time (Green, 2012, para. 1). This research is significant to the criminal justice system. Victims of violent crime deserve justice and convicting the wrong person is not only injustice for the victim, but for the one is being wrongfully convicted. …show more content…

As stated earlier, Texas and Illinois have a higher number of exonerations (CBS News, 2014, para. 5), but how many are due to DNA? Some of the areas that will be covered in this research are listed as below: 1. Was DNA beneficial to the exonerations of Texas and Illinois? 2. How is the DNA handled differently during the exoneration process than the initial case? 3. Was there a particular DNA testing, the type of DNA or procedure that was used more often than others in the

Show More
Related

  • Summary: Texan Who Died In Prison Cleared Of Rape

    744 Words  | 3 Pages

    It is a great technological innovation that can help bring evidences and fact faster. In the article The DNA Wars Are Over, “Forensic use of DNA technology in criminal cases began in 1986… In one of the first uses of DNA in a criminal case in the United States, in November 1987.” Sadly in 1985, DNA testing was not popular in the U.S. investigation and was not available in Cole’s case. I believe the U.S. court system is improving and yes there are a lot mistrials and wrongful conviction cases, but you cannot avoid the fact that DNA testing can bring better truth than just relying on statements of both

    Read More

  • The Innocence Project Analysis

    513 Words  | 3 Pages

    The project’s intake and evaluation staff research each case to determine whether DNA testing could be conducted to prove individuals innocence as well as guilt. When the Innocence Project started the groundbreaking use of DNA technology it allowed them to free innocent people and prove that wrongful conviction can happen in the criminal justice system. The Innocence Project’s Strategic Litigation department created in 2012, works along with the legal system and courts to acknowledge the many leading cases of wrongful convictions. The department’s three attorneys use multiple strategies to make judges, policymakers and other attorneys aware of the inaccuracy of forensic science. They also acknowledge that sometimes witness can be unreliable.

    Read More

  • Phyllis Hennem Investigative Genetic Genealogy

    1159 Words  | 5 Pages

    Today, the FBI has DNA records of more than 5 million convicted offenders in the database CODIS, or Combined DNA Index System. However, DNA fingerprinting has limitations: it is limited to directly connecting crimes to felons already in CODIS, has high risk of contamination, does not look at familial records, and only analyzes short pieces of DNA. With the advent of more affordable and high resolution genetic technologies after The Human Genome Project, over 35 million people have submitted their DNA to the largest direct-to-consumer genetic companies. Two companies, FamilyTreeDNA and GEDmatch, also allow law enforcement access to their databases. Thus, beginning investigative genetic genealogy, a new method of forensic investigation not only with higher resolution DNA information than DNA fingerprinting but also the capability of finding a suspect from distant relatives.

    Read More

  • The Important Role Of Crime In Ronald Cotton's Picking Cotton

    160 Words  | 1 Pages

    In the book picking cotton a young woman’s life was haunted by a terrible crime while a young man’s life was ruined by false accusations and evidence. This book is one which many can relate to, due to the fact that that we live in a society where crime as such happens everyday and situations such as lack of evidence and false accusations put people in jail for crimes they did not commit. In our genetics class we learn a lot about how DNA plays an important role in our lives. The book makes me take this way more seriously than I did when talking about it in class because it shows how a simple sample of DNA can rid someone of a lifetime in prison for a crime they did not commit. Ronald Cotton was accused of a crime he did not commit, after 10

    Read More

  • Essay On Incredible Eyewitnesses

    960 Words  | 4 Pages

    More than 75% of cases that have used DNA to exonerate have involved misidentification by the eyewitnesses (“Credible Eyewitnesses”). This proves that eyewitnesses are not reliable sources in a trial. According to the article “Credible Eyewitnesses”,

    Read More

  • The Innocence Project: A Case Study

    301 Words  | 2 Pages

    DNA has been an essential method for examination for officers of the law. This method has assist numerous amount people to get convicted of a crime or to prove innocent of a person of any wrongdoing. In the year of 1992, the Innocence Project was established, the motive for this was to examine previous court cases and by utilize DNA testing, justifying wrong convictions of innocent people. Since the beginning of the Innocence Project, this project has help hundreds of convictions be overturned in the criminal justice system. The average time serve is 14 years in prison prior to vindicate and set free.

    Read More

  • Argumentative Essay: Can People Still Be Wrongfully Convicted?

    323 Words  | 2 Pages

    However, there is no way to gather the exact percent of individuals that have been wrongfully convicted. DNA evidence has certainly decreased the number of wrongfully convicted, unfortunately, there

    Read More

  • The Innocence Project: False Imprisonment

    1223 Words  | 5 Pages

    15 “The Innocence Project’s groundbreaking use of DNA technology to free innocent people has provided irrefutable proof that wrongful convictions are not isolated or rare events but instead from systemic defects” (Innocence Project). 16 There have been 337 DNA exonerations in the United States. Of the exonerees, the average age at the time of their wrongful convictions was 26.5. 17 The leading causes of wrongful convictions are eyewitness misidentification testimony, invalidated or improper forensic science, false confessions and incriminating statements, and informants.

    Read More

  • The Crime Lab: How Police Use DNA In Crime

    410 Words  | 2 Pages

    There are many forms of DNA that you can leave at the scene of a crime. Some of the forms of DNA that you can leave at

    Read More

  • Santae Tribble Case Summary

    704 Words  | 3 Pages

    26 out of 28 analysts/agents have provided inaccurate statements or flawed reports to the courts in 41 states ("FBI Testimony"). This is thirteen more analysts than in the original study. According to the FBI, these analysts over exaggerated their results in courts and in reports for more than 4 decades. The cases being reviewed, are from before mitochondrial DNA was used ("FBI

    Read More

  • Dna Fingerprinting On Trial Summary

    1152 Words  | 5 Pages

    DNA Fingerprinting on Trial is an article written in 1989 by Ian Evett, Peter Gill, and two others. The article begins by introducing what DNA is and discussing briefly what restriction fragment length polymorphisms (RFLPs) are, as well as how they are measured with an electrophoresis gel. According to the authors, forensic RFLP testing at this time was being “pioneered” by two laboratories and used by the FBI. The authors then go on to say they believe “the scientific community [has] failed to set rigorous standards to which courts, attorneys and forensic-testing laboratories can look for guidance.” Essentially, the authors think that the techniques used in 1989 for forensic DNA analysis are inadequate and they discuss certain situations in

    Read More

  • Discuss The Six Primary Causes Of Wrongful Wrongvictions

    287 Words  | 2 Pages

    The Innocence Project lists six primary causes of wrongful convictions exonerated by DNA evidence. The causes are eyewitness misidentification, unvalidated or improper forensic science, false confessions or admissions, government misconduct, informants, and inadequate defense. The leading cause of wrongful convictions proven by DNA evidence is eyewitness misidentification. Eyewitness misidentification was a factor in more than 70% of convictions whose rulings were reversed due to DNA testing nationwide. Throughout history, the reliability of eyewitness identification has been questioned.

    Read More

  • Pros And Cons Of Forensic Dna

    728 Words  | 3 Pages

    DNA can be used as evidence to charge and imprison people. There are many pros to forensic dna like solving crimes and finding criminals. But Forensic dna also has many cons too like how dna can be tampered with and can falsely incriminate innocent people. Dna being used to throw the track off of criminals and nowadays be used to forge another person’s fingerprint on to a weapon of a sort and left behind to falsely accuse an innocent person so now Dna is not reliable all the time.

    Read More

  • Eyewitness Testimonies

    142 Words  | 1 Pages

    I completely agree with all the points you made. DNA is the most reliable source of evidence for the fact that it directly and often times unquestionably ties an individual to a crime. On the other hand, eyewitness testimonies rely on memory and as we now know that can be a problem as memory is reconstructive and that means our memories may be altered by suggestive techniques, pressure, rumor, or hearsay. Eyewitness testimonies are also particularly vulnerable to errors when the suspect’s ethnicity is different than the witness’s, leading questions are given to the witness, and when witnesses are exposed to misleading information. However, until DNA came around people were willing to dismiss results of memory research as that was the only source

    Read More

  • Amanda Knox Case Study

    738 Words  | 3 Pages

    When the investigation was first introduced to the the crime it was poorly operated. The investigation was so poor that contamination of DNA

    Read More

More about DNA Exoneration Case Study

Open Document