Should inmates be entitled to post conviction DNA testing?
Should inmates be entitled to post conviction DNA testing?
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Issue Date
2013
Authors
Gubser, Alexis
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Abstract
In the United States, the routine integration of forensic DNA profiling into the criminal justice system has been utilized and promoted widely so as to improve the quality of the prosecution and investigation processes. In early 1980, DNA testing was used for the first time in criminal cases and those cases are now used for comparison, analysis, and daily collection for the National DNA Database. DNA testing is now becoming a powerful resource of evidence for prosecutors and a standard instrument for policing. Therefore, this thesis will explore four hypotheses through survey method to determine the significance of post conviction DNA testing and to determine whether it is one of the most reliable ways of proving guilt or innocence. Many of the publicized exonerations have enhanced wrongful conviction visibility and has also generated concern among the criminal justice policymakers, practitioners, and scholars. This increases the attention of the justice system fallibility and how it is largely responsible for the proliferation of innocence projects throughout the country. This study indicated that there is a correlation between gender and whether a person feels post conviction DNA testing is beneficial. This study did not find a correlation between gender and whether someone feels that females are rarely convicted of sexual assault. Also, a female's education level is not a factor when it comes to the age that she was sexually assaulted. Lastly, marital status doesn't determine a person's socioeconomic level.
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Keywords
Forensic science