Summary Post

The use of biotechnology in the last decade has taken great strides in serving the needs of the justice system. The first tools available to the law enforcement community such as eye witnesses have become fallible and obsolete in the age of technological driven forensics. In the past a person could be convicted by impartial evidence and serve unneeded time in the penal system. Today this can almost be avoided and the entire process streamlined with the use of the following technologies.

The following is a possible approach using these technologies on the war on crime. A body is found in the woods of a quiet community. This body is not alone in that during the last six months; five other bodies have been discovered dumped in the woods in relatively the same manner. The detectives assigned show up on the scene and with the help of forensic entomologists are able to determine the relative time of death of the victims by use of insect linear regression. The body is then taken to the coroner’s office to determine cause of death and have any viable evidence collected including toxicological screening. This will allow the investigators to see if any foreign substances were used in the crime. The face of the person has been eaten off by animals and needs to be reconstructed to allow a visual comparison. The body is found to have foreign skin cells under its fingernails and they can be amplified and analyzed by PCR. The information of the victim and the possible assailant are then inputted into CODIS and IAFIS to be screened for possible identification. The investigating officer will access this data base and view it from a secure laptop with a biometric finger print reader to ensure security. The officer gets lucky and gets a match in CODIS. The CODIS system having identified the victim as a recently dishonorably discharged Navy Chief convicted of adultery and his possible assailant, a prior felon with multiple assault and battery charges. The body can then be released to the family for burial and the suspect brought in for questioning and further DNA evidence collected. The suspect is then interrogated and given a polygraph to assist the officers in determining if he is telling the truth. The polygraph is not an infallible machine and is only used to give the officers an idea of whether the truth is being told. Once confronted with all the evidence the suspect admits that the chief was sleeping with his wife and he killed him for it. The suspect then states that his wife has been very promiscuous and he has in fact been the killer of the five previously murdered people found in the woods. With all this information a case is made against him and when taken into court the suspect is convicted of murder and sentenced to life in prison without parole.

The story above is not only about the use of technology but of luck as well. Some of these technologies have led to the conviction of innocent people and have also led to the questioning of whether statute of limitation laws should be revised. The technology is also only as good as the user is trained in its application and therefore is as fallible as the user wielding it. Sometimes the technology yields no results leaving the window open for newer innovations to shed light on old cases. In the end, many people will either see these technologies as a way for big brother to watch over them while others will see it as a proverbial safety blanket. However, it is our opinion that although the technology is still developing, the benefits to society far outweigh the cost. New innovations may not be perfect, but they are constantly making forensics more accurate. It has led to the exonerating of the wrongly convicted and the conviction of those who would have previously gone free. As the technology continues to mature it will maximize the good aspects and minimize the bad. Let’s hope one day that it will be able to provide the greatest possible protection. A justice system that is blind to opinion, hearsay and stereotypes. Let’s bring justice to the people!!!

By: Christopher Baker, Kinsley Jin and Stephen Quach