Forensic Identification and Criminal Justice by Carole McCartney

Author:Carole McCartney [McCartney, Carole]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780415628327
Barnesnoble:
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
Published: 2012-05-17T00:00:00+00:00

For DNA ‘mining expeditions’ (speculative searches on the database) to be successful depends upon three prerequisites: a criminal has to leave trace evidence at the scene or on a victim containing their DNA; a trained technician (SOCO) must competently gather this evidence; and thirdly, the DNA evidence must be of sufficient quality to permit testing. These three prerequisites rarely occur in all but the most serious of crimes, meaning that the mining of DNA databases will most likely not succeed in realising substantial crime-reduction results (Tracy and Morgan 2000: 655). In response, police authorities are making efforts to change investigative policy to include the collection of physical evidence from volume crimes. However, the sheer ‘volume’ of property crime precludes the attendance of SOCOs at most crimes, not accounting additionally for the futility of the exercise in the majority of instances.

Such sentiments are borne out by statistics from the UK where, on average, 16 per cent of crime scenes are examined, with 12 per cent of these resulting in a successful DNA sample being loaded onto the NDNAD, meaning less than 0.8 per cent of all recorded crime produces a DNA sample that can be tested (see Chapter 2 for more details on crime detection and the NDNAD). Tracey and Morgan (2000: 646) conclude that in the USA, while the logic behind DNA databases appears convincing, ‘when one examines the nature and distribution of crime, the presumed usefulness of DNA databases as a crime control measure may not only be far from obvious or certain, but may turn out to be grossly exaggerated’. As police do not collect ‘physical’ evidence from most crimes there, and most prosecutors don't rely upon DNA evidence at trial,30 DNA databases were then only of subsidiary interest in the overwhelming majority of police and prosecutors' work. It is likely then that national DNA testing on a large scale will lack cost-effectiveness in the more general fight against crime (Walker and Cram 1990: 489). This may hold true in the UK, although recent short-term special initiatives have seen the police and FSS targeting burglary with apparent success. The police occasionally acknowledge the limited capability of the technique to cut crime rates across all crime types, but counter that it helps obtain convictions in more serious, but rarer, offences against the person with the cost of DNA profiling absorbed by the large budgets usually accorded to serious inquiries (Walker and Cram 1990: 480).

Supporters also claim other benefits from use of the NDNAD after investigations have been completed. For example, such databases can further ‘speed up’ justice by supporting the securing of guilty pleas. The FSS Pathfinder Project found that those cases with strong forensic evidence resulted in a high proportion of guilty pleas.31 Rudimentary research in West Yorkshire demonstrates that when there is DNA evidence, cases are routinely disposed of without resort to a full trial,32 however research in Australia found no correlation between guilty pleas and DNA evidence (see Briody 2002; 2004). The notion that guilty pleas

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