Evidentiary Technology
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Advances in evidentiary technology have, in the past ten years, revolutionized the criminal justice system in the United States and, to some extent, the world. The process of integrating DNA technology into the criminal justice system has been laborious and time consuming. Today, law enforcement agencies can compare DNA profiles found at crime scenes with DNA profiles stored in convicted offender databases, allowing them to better identify the perpetrators of heinous crimes. However, traditional setbacks continue to plague the criminal justice system in spite of these advances. Expense, backlogs and other hurdles threaten to undermine the best efforts of law enforcement to use DNA technology in an efficient, timely manner. And, DNA evidence has been used increasingly in the past ten years to exonerate a growing number of convicted felons, causing some to wonder if these breakthroughs in genetic technology do little other than reveal the arbitrary nature of what is at best an imperfectùand at worst a corruptùcriminal justice system. In the 1980s, DNA testing was not even admissible in American courts. In the following years, DNA samples found at crime scenes were useless unless there was a clear suspect, as there was nothing with which to compare those samples that were recovered. Though it is true that today offender databanks boast thousands of genetic profiles, evidence rooms and forensic labs around the country are stockpiling hundreds of thousands of untested
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at crime scenes where there was no suspect, knowing that a DNA sample might now be checked against an index of offenders (Asplen 146).
Under the auspices of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the CODIS mission statement promises a blending of
ôforensic science and computer technology into an effective tool for solving crimes. CODIS enables federal, state, and local crime labs to exchange and compare DNA profiles electronically, thereby linking crimes to each other and to convicted felonsö (CODIS homepage).
It was nearly exactly ten years ago, with the DNA Identification Act of 1994, that the FBIÆs authority to establish a DNA index was formalized; by 1998, the National DNA Index System (NDIS) became operational. Today, the NDIS represents the highest tier in the CODIS hierarchy. Beginning at the local level, DNA profiles trickle up to state labs where they are then collated on a national level. This approach allows ôstate and local agencies to operate their databases according to their specific legislative or legal requirementsö (CODIS homepage).
In the years following the inception of CODIS, more than 500 matches have been recorded, which have in turn aided more than 1,000 violent crime investigations. A ômatc
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Approximate Word count = 1986
Approximate Pages = 8 (250 words per page)
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