Thursday, February 24, 2011

DNA Testing for Forensic Purposes

One of the major advances in forensic science has been the use of DNA evidence. This test method has helped solve many crimes would not have been possible decades ago. More important, he has been able to solve crimes with a high degree of precision that results in the avoidance of other insightful or questionable methods of research.

Every human being on earth has genes. These genes are a unit of heredity and is unique for each person. They are made of composites of a number of molecules of DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) in a particular sequence that is unique to each person. Thus, a person's genes can be identified and mapped. This is known as DNA analysis.

In the forensic science of DNA from biological samples such as human hair, blood, semen, skin or saliva found at the crime scene is compared with the DNA of the suspect and the comparison can be found if the person suspect is innocent or guilty. This process is called genetic fingerprinting or DNA. The system of DNA profiles usually specify whether the samples at the crime scene is not contaminated, although the technology is developed DNA extraction capabilities have improved greatly.

The first person to be sentenced to life in the UK on the database of DNA profiles was a rapist and murderer by the name of Colin Pitchfork. In the years 1983 and 1986, the bodies of two young teenagers were found. These girls had been raped and strangled in a small town of Narborough, when each of the girls was to go home alone at the end of the day. There were no witnesses to the crime, but DNA profiles of samples taken from the scene of two murders confirmed that the crime was perpetrated by the same person. The investigations led to the arrest of Richard Buckland, a young boy who confessed to killing the girl in second and denied he had anything to do with the murder of the first child. The DNA profile of Richard Buckland did not match DNA samples taken at the scene of two murders. Subsequent investigations led to the arrest of Colin Pitchfork in September 1987. The DNA profile of the blood sample from Colin match the DNA profile of the murderer of two girls. Colin Pitchfork confessed and was sentenced to life imprisonment in 1988 and became the first person to be convicted on evidence obtained from DNA profiles. Richard Buckland was the first person to prove his innocence of the alleged crimes that DNA profiles.

DNA testing can be performed on samples of various materials obtained from the crime scene. The standard samples can be blood stains from clothing, tissues and tampons, clothing such as hats, scarves, underwear, cigarette butts, gum, hair (at least four or five hairs with roots hair), post-mortem tissues. Reference samples were obtained from buccal swabs (swabs of saliva taken from the cheek inside the mouth), blood, semen or sperm, or umbilical cord dry. Success rates vary depending on the samples and conditions that are in preservation methods also vary from samples kept in dry ice to tubes simple paper envelope.
National DNA Index (NDIS) has thousands of records of DNA profiles from samples taken at the crime scene and DNA profiles and samples of bodily fluids provided by known criminals. These data have been used to relate and solve crimes and has resulted in more than seventy thousand convictions. The NDIS and departments DNAAU-II have helped in the search for missing persons and also in the identification of unidentified bodies.

forensic investigations based on DNA analysis have come a long way since the early studies were conducted during the 1980's. Paternity tests can confirm that the alleged father is a father with a hundred percent accurate and can conclude that the alleged father is the father with 99% accuracy. The results are accurate, even when the mother is not tested. Infidelity or ancestry can also be followed on the basis of DNA profiles.

A lot of innocent victims are released after DNA profiles showed that they were not related to the crime. As a test methodologies are more refined, Forensic DNA testing will cement itself as an important tool in the investigation of crime.

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