Page 145 - VERITAS Vol.2 Issue 2

‘Advancing Justice Through DNA Technology’ research article by Na-

tional Criminal Justice Reference Services (NCJRS) in 1999, in New

York, authorities linked a man through DNA evidence to at least 22 sex-

ual assaults and robberies that had terrorised the city.

In 2002, authorities in Philadelphia Pennsylvania, and fort, Collins, Col-

orado, used DNA evidence to link and solve a series of crimes (rapes
and murders) perpetrated by the same individual.

HOW PRECISELY DOES A DNA DATABASE WORK?
HO W P R E CISEL Y DOE S A DN A D A T A B A SE W OR K?
Once DNA is recovered from the scene of the crime it can be compared

to the data available in the database or a sample of the suspect’s DNA

can be compared to the evidence found at the crime scene. When a sus-

pect has been identified, The comparison finding and then could be used
to determine if the suspect committed the crime. Biological evidence

from the crime scene can be studied and compared to the offender’s

profiles in the DNA database to identify the culprit in situations where

a suspect has not been identified.

HOW EXACTLY IS THE DNA DATABASE CREATED?
HO W E X A C T L Y IS T HE DN A D A T A B A SE CR E A T ED?
For illustration let us assume a man is found guilty of sexual assault, at
the time of investigation and criminal proceedings he is asked to submit

his DNA samples and the resulting DNA profile was added to the DNA

database created. Similarly, another attack occurred a few years later and

the sexual assault nurse examiner working with the victim managed to

collect biological evidence. This data is then evaluated against the ex-

isting data in the database. If in case the offender had committed crimes

before this one, he will be captured, put on trial, and given a term for
all the offences he has committed. In such situations, the DNA database

helps in capturing the culprit in a very short amount of time and restrains

his ability to engage in other illegal activities.

DNA databases are typically used to correlate DNA evidence to the

DNA of an offender’s profile. A system of national, state, and municipal

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Veritas Volume: 2, Issue: 2