Www brighthub com science genetics articles

I’m Brenda and I’m going to discuss with you guys some of the arguments and benefits of creating a DNA database.

It may take a while and there are reasonable concerns associated with such a database, but if properly managed it can have a lot of benefits. These benefits include exonerating the wrongfully convicted, getting bad guys off the streets, and counter terrorism.

Lets start by talking about clearing the wrongly convicted.

The Innocence Project, a non-profit that focuses on freeing the wrongly convicted, has used collected DNA information to clear 318 people of crimes they did not commit. And in fact, in over half of those cases the people who committed these crimes were identified. False convictions usually occur to due to human error, including mistaken eyewitnesses and errors in forensic evidence. DNA samples greatly reduce this and have taken many innocent people off death row!

Apart from the wrongly convicted, DNA helps keep bad guys off the streets.

According to the FBI in California alone, 44% of murders go unsolved, and in Washington DC that number increases to 56%. With an extensive database of DNA samples, this could be avoided. DNA can also be used to identify relatives and family members, and has been implemented in the past to interview these people, which has led to convictions and the solving of crimes. In 2009, a man in Maryland was arrested for endangering public safety. When he was arrested his cheek was swabbed to run a DNA test which came up positive. His DNA showed that he was responsible for a number of unsolved rapes that occurred 6 years before – for which he was then convicted.

We live in a post 9/11 world and terrorism is a real threat.

We’ve all heard something or another about the Patriot Act, and in it there is a section dedicated to collecting DNA samples, BUT WHY? Because in today’s world just about anybody can get anywhere, all it takes is a credit card and a plane ticket. This means potential or known terrorists can come and go pretty easily, and they usually do with false papers. DNA samples, which can be shared with intelligence agencies around the world, could prevent this problem and potentially save a lot of lives. Interestingly, the CIA confirmed that it collected DNA samples of Bin Laden’s family to confirm that he was in his compound before they went in after him.

Such a system isn’t too hard to implement.

It may take time and cost money but a similar database has been successfully implemented in the UK. They have a database that has samples of roughly 10 percent of their population, opposed to here in the US where we only have samples of half of one percent of our population. The UK database has proven successful and has been used to do everything I’ve already mentioned, and has been incredibly helpful to intelligence agencies around the world.

So to quickly review…

DNA sampling has a number of benefits, they include: clearing wrongly convicted people, solving crimes and getting bad guys off the streets, and anti-terrorism. It may be a challenge to get up and running but as evidenced in the UK, it is possible – AND ALL IT TAKES IS A Q-TIP IN THE MOUTH. THANK YOU.

http://blogs.lawyers.com/2013/09/mandatory-dna-testing/

http://dnapolicyinitiative.org/resources/dna-databases-and-human-rights

http://www.brighthub.com/science/genetics/articles/65420.aspx

http://aclu.procon.org/view.answers.php?questionID=000685

http://www.theweek.co.uk/uk-news/35669/pros-and-cons-compulsory-dna-database#ixzz3Fz6vxPIf