Application of DNA in Criminal Forensics

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Table of Contents

Introduction
Summary of Technology
Stakeholders
Research Questions
Progress Already Made
Ultimate Goal
Conclusion
References

Introduction

Biotechnology is one of the fastest-growing scientific disciplines, providing society with answers and opportunities to improve the quality of life. The fundamental essence of biotechnology is the integration of physical, chemical, and biological processes to create products or solutions for specific applications. One such area in which biotechnology allows us to solve real-world problems is forensics. This essay studies the biotechnology application to forensics, examining specific methods and identifying stakeholders.

Summary of Technology

The basis for performing biotechnology techniques is DNA, a genetic molecule that contains hereditary information. Modern laboratory technologies allow us to analyze this DNA and identify its identity. In phylogenetic studies, the analysis of DNA from fossil remains allows one to determine the taxonomic identity of a species, while in forensics, one can find the connection between traces and the perpetrator or the victim. For this purpose, traces of DNA found — blood, saliva, semen, hair, skin — are sent for sequencing, which aims to decode the nucleotide sequence of the molecule and detect specific markers (Krawczka & Schmidtke, 2020). Comparison of the decrypted data with the library data allows a level of match to be determined, which may be evidence of involvement in the crime.

Stakeholders

The stakeholders of such a biotechnology application are forensic scientists, experts, and law enforcement. For them, this method allows them to optimize the process of finding criminals and victims and obtain data-driven conclusions. Society can also be seen as a stakeholder, as crime rates in communities are expected to decrease from the mass diffusion of DNA technology, as catching perpetrators will be more streamlined. The academic community of biotechnologists may also be interested in developing progress in this field since these technologies are similar to phylogenetic and bioethical research, including determining the degree of relatedness and progress from one discipline can be extrapolated.

Research Questions

An essential parameter for criminal sciences is the quality of detectable evidence: biological fluids and materials are not preserved for a long time, so special requirements are placed on their storage methods. Developing solutions that allow the preservation of DNA without damaging its structure or affecting the reliability of the results is a high-priority problem for biotechnological forensics. In addition, there is an ongoing debate about which DNA sequencing methods are the most accurate: capillary and gel electrophoresis, whole exome sequencing, targeted sequencing, or hybridization capture (Types of DNA, 2021). The method chosen must be highly accurate and dependable but not redundant, conserving law enforcement resources and finances. A serious issue is the use of databases, specifically the ethics of filling them. Ideally, DNA law enforcement databases should contain records on all members of society, but this creates ethical dilemmas and problems of government control.

Progress Already Made

Although there are issues to address, biotechnology forensics has already made serious progress. DNA fingerprinting is widely used to recognize an identity using DNA fragments, and the method is highly accurate and relatively easy to use (Krawczka & Schmidtke, 2020). In addition, DNA profiling and sequencing technologies are used, simplifying identification in criminal disciplines. A real-life example of the use of available technology was the case of Colin Pitchfork, who committed the murder and rape of a fifteen-year-old girl from the UK (Kumar, 2020). Pitchfork was the first perpetrator to be identified by DNA forensic analysis of detected semen when classical methods of finding the killer were no longer successful.

Ultimate Goal

The ultimate goal of biotech forensics is to create a tool that will streamline and establish law enforcement procedures and thus ensure complete public safety. Under such conditions, criminals would be identified instantly, all information about them would be available in databases, and the number of crimes would be significantly reduced. Wide establishment of such technologies will make them cheaper and more accessible, and judicial errors will be meaningfully minimized.

Conclusion

Biotechnology has promising applications in forensics. Biological traces can be used to identify criminals accurately and reliably, allowing sequencing techniques to determine matches. Stakeholders for this are law enforcement authorities, society, and the academic community, as not only will public safety be improved, but scientific progress will be tangible. The technology has already shown that it can be used effectively, but issues, including ethical ones, still need to be addressed.

References

Types of DNA and RNA sequencing. (2021). IDT. Web.

Kumar, V. (2020). Evaluation of the autosomal STR markers and kits. In H. R. Dash, P. Shrivastava, & J. A. Lorente (Eds.), Handbook of DNA profiling (pp. 1-34). Springer Singapore.

Krawczka, M., & Schmidtke, J. (2020). DNA fingerprinting. Taylor & Francis.

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