Forensic DNA Underutilized
Reader Franklin Wade mentioned yesterday that CSI, the American crime show, has made people overconfident in the powers of DNA. If you’re one of them, did you know that in the U.S., DNA from over half of rapes and homicides since 1982 (about 250,000 cases) have NOT been tested? (Newsday.com, July 3, 2005 )
In a survey of 120 crime labs and about 3,400 law enforcement agencies in all 50 states, researchers found that DNA testing was often skipped due to lack of money, trained personnel and other resources. Surprisingly, DNA evidence was often seen as being more useful in convicting a suspect rather than a means to find the perpetrator. Furthermore, the national DNA database is a largey untapped resource.
“Nearly one-fourth of all the surveyed law enforcement agencies reported that one of the primary reasons for not sending DNA to a crime laboratory was the lack of a suspect in the case,” the study says. “The problem with that is that those are the very types of cases in which the current national DNA database of existing criminal offenders can be most useful.”
To increase the efficiency of forensic labs, it’s estimated that 1,900 additional full-time lab workers at a cost of $70 million would be needed across the country.
The unlimited resources of CSI investigators must be the envy of law enforcement officers everywhere.
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POSTED IN: Genetics: Legislation, Policies, Ethics, Law
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