Outline – DNA and Biological Evidence

Research Question:

Should DNA And Other Biological Evidence Be Admissible in Court?

Introduction

Prevalence of innocent people put in prison

Number of people proven innocent by DNA and other biological evidences after imprisonment

Ethical question of admissibility of DNA evidence in courts

Thesis statement – While DNA has been used to exonerate innocent people, many still hold that it should not be admissible in court because the quality of evidence relies on the quality of the laboratory work, evidence may be planted, and it might lead to false conclusions, and therefore should not be oversold in court and should only be considered in light of other available evidence.

Scope of the problem

Statistics of the people wrongfully incarcerated

Statistics of the number of people put in death row due to erroneous DNA testing and planted evidence

Statistics on rightful convictions using DNA and biological evidence

Success of DNA and biological evidence in solving civil and criminal cases

Paternity cases

Proof of death

Sexual Assaults

Ethical issues in DNA and biological evidence in criminal cases

Basic human error and human bias

Linking innocent people to crime

Surge in racial disparities

Violation of privacy rights

Study #1 Campbell et al., 2020

Can DNA be used to identify repeat offenders in sexual assaults?

Forensic DNA testing results examined from 7,287 samples in Michigan

35.7% identified as repeat perpetrators

Study #2 Rasool & Hussain, 2020

Does forensic science aid the process of decision making in courts?

How has DNA evidence been used to solve forensic cases such as paternity and relatedness

Are there errors in solving forensic cases using manual calculations?

Does ForeStatistics increase the accurateness and efficiency of DNA statistics?

Study #3 Schklar, 2019

Do DNA and other scientific evidence play an increasing role in criminal investigations and court proceedings?

Baye’s theorem in estimating the degree to which jurors should revise their belief that the defendant committed the crime given some incriminating trace evidence such as hair fibre, semen and blood

Should jurors consider trustworthiness of police officers conducting criminal investigations and collecting DNA evidence from the crime scene?

Conclusion

Summary statement of DNA and biological evidence and impact on society

Thesis statement – While DNA has been used to exonerate innocent people, many still hold that it should not be admissible in court because the quality of evidence relies on the quality of the laboratory work, evidence may be planted, and it might lead to false conclusions, and therefore should not be oversold in court and should only be considered in light of other available evidence

Future implications

Educate people on importance of DNA and biological evidence

Conduct more studies on reliability of DNA and biological evidence to allow admissibility in courts.