DNA Liability In Court Cases

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Before the mid 1980’s the courts relied heavily on eyewitness accounts, fingerprints, and testimonies to get convictions. While these ways work, they aren’t nearly as effective as DNA. With an accuracy of over 99% DNA profiling has become one of the most important, and reliable tools law enforcement has at its disposal.
DNA, also known as the blueprint of life, wasn’t described until 1953, when scientists Francis H. C. Crick and James D. Watson identified, and described the structure of DNA, which resembles a twisted ladder or double helix. They also established the role of DNA as the material that makes up the genetic code of all living organisms. They also noted that with the exception of identical twins, no two people have the same DNA …show more content…
This was for two major reasons, the first being the question of DNA’s admissibility in court. There are 2 court cases that helped determine that “novel science” should be held admissible, and from these cases 2 standards were developed that these sciences are required to meet in order to be held admissible. The first is called “The Frye Standard”, which came from the case Frye v. United States back in 1923. In this case the court ruled that, in order to be admissible, scientific evidence has to be “sufficiently established to have gained general acceptance in the particular field in which it belongs” which in this case is DNA, and the scientific field. DNA was proven to meet this first …show more content…
Castro. In this case a bloodstain recovered from the defendants watch was being questioned. While the courts ruled that the DNA identification was a valid and admissible, what was being questioned was the methods and techniques the lab used to do their testing. After a few testimonies from experts it was decided that the lab failed to use the generally practiced and accepted techniques used for DNA testing. This then led to the Supreme Court to create general outlines and requirements for its discovery proceedings. Eventually DNA testing had passed all the legal hurdles such as this one, and they are now no long an
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