Militaria Collectibles Original Period Items

General Ridgway

General Ridgway

Forensic Testing: Using Dna Tests to Solve Crime

 

Forensic Testing: Using DNA Tests  to Solve Crime

 

 

DNA is a powerful tool for researching  identity - and for solving crimes. Width the advent of DNA profiling,  detectives and investigators now hone in on criminals like never before.

 

 

Forensic DNA Analysis And CODIS

 

 

Since its inception nearly two decades ago, the Federal  Bureau of Investigation’s CODIS (Combined DNA Index System) database has grown to  become a vital element in crime investigations and prosecutions, with more than  37,000 criminal investigations to its credit. Not only does the system allow  for comparisons between crime scene evidence and DNA profiles of convicted  offenders, CODIS is also able to help identify serial criminals by linking DNA tests evidence across multiple crime scenes.

 

 

As early as the mid-1980s, states themselves were  getting into the act, passing DNA collection and cataloging laws for those  convicted of serious crimes. Today, laws requiring DNA collection in particular  crime types are in effect, not just at the federal level, but in all 50 states.  Significant advances since the mid-nineties have catapulted forensic DNA from  the reaches of virtual science fiction to the feet of distinguished judicial  benches nationwide.

 

 

Early Forensic DNA

 

 

Initially, DNA analysis was used primarily to link  perpetrators to violent crimes such as homicides and sexual assaults. Recently,  however, the scope of forensic DNA analysis has expanded to include lesser  felonies like auto theft and burglary. In recognition of the fact that many  perpetrators commit relatively minor offenses before escalating to more violent  crimes, authorities recognize the importance of analyzing biological evidence  from these lesser felonies.

 

 

The first instance of forensic DNA being used in a criminal case led to the 1986 capture and conviction  of murderer and rapist Colin Pitchfork, in Leicestershire, United    Kingdom. Following more than 4,000 DNA  comparisons, police were finally led to the suspect, who was tried, convicted  and sentenced to life in prison. Twenty years later, forensic

  DNA has expanded to become applicable in many  disciplines, and continues gaining notoriety worldwide.

 

 

The Charlottesville Terror

 

 

A 1989 Virginia  law requiring blood sampling of all felons was at the heart of one remarkable case  in which DNA evidence led to the arrest and conviction of a serial rapist. Charlottesville, VA  police collected fluid samples from an August 1999 crime scene, forwarding  specimens to the Virginia Department of Forensics Services for DNA analysis.

 

 

Samples from bed sheets and a discarded beer can  matched each other, to the exclusion of any known residents of the building  where the recent assault had occurred. These key pieces of evidence would prove  crucial to the successful apprehension and prosecution of the perpetrator.

  Despite a suspect list of 40 individuals, police were  unable to find any legitimate breaks in the case. Meanwhile, the University of Virginia campus on which the recent  attack had taken place began to bustle with the anxiety of uncertainty. Students  were suspicious of one another; they even began to feel unsafe attending the  generally safe late-night study sessions that had become a staple of student  life. Charlottesville  police reached a point at which they began considering mandatory blood tests of  students and faculty, hoping for even the slightest edge in breaking the case  open.

 

 

Finally, in early October, word reached local law enforcement  of a DNA match. The DNA fingerprint of previous sex offender, Montaret D.  Davis, had shown up among more than 8000 samples added to Virginia’s ever-growing DNA database just  days earlier. A parole violator at the time, Davis was already being detained in a nearby  regional facility. Just six months later, thanks to the acute eye of DNA, Davis was convicted on  these, and related charges, being sentenced to 90 years in prison.

 

 

Since that time, DNA testing  has grown rapidly as one of the most inescapable sources of evidence, both for  convicting the guilty, and exonerating the innocent. Many other notable crimes,  or patterns of violent attacks, have fallen victim to the power of forensic

DNA. In 2002, DNA was integral in linking a series of rapes  and murders in Pennsylvania and Colorado to the same  individual.

 

 

DNA played a valuable role in finally tearing a hole  in the case of the infamous Green River Killer; by 2004, convict Gary Ridgway  had been sentenced to 48 life prison terms for his involvement in a bloodbath  that lasted many years. Twenty years after his last murder, DNA had brought  this killer to justice.

About the Author

David Nicholson owns and runs DNA Worldwide one of the leading online DNA testing sompanies in the UK. He has been working within the insurance industry for over 5 years and has thousands of satisfied customers worldwide. DNA Worldwide provides DNA Testing services.

Girls: Does the Gender Studies section also put you off men...?

It might as well be called the "I hate women section" the way the men under here talk about women is scary. They seem to be here 24/7 bitching about women. They are probably one of the weirdos like Ted Bundy and Gary Ridgway who go around killing women. It puts me off all men in general. What do you think of the Gender Studies section? I think the men under here are just ashamed about being men so they hate on women because they are jealous.

B - Depending on when you are in this section, men hate on women, and women hate on men.

When I first got on here a few years ago, this section was full of man hating women. Almost every post was about women bashing men all day every day. Now days, men are in here bashing women.

Men might be bashing women on here now because of how many women where bashing men in here in the past. Times change, people change, habits and thinking patterns change, and what people post on here changes. Nothing is absolute and no one group is to blame. Both groups are to blame.

Army Chief of Staff General Matthew B. Ridgway at the Parthenon, Athens Greece