Crime has always been a huge part of society. Developed or developing, every country has it’s own crime rate. Although prevention is better than cure, sometimes it is not possible. Mostly, the only instance that law enforcement personnel get wind of a crime, it has already been committed. Hence, solving crime cases has become an essential part in a countries governing system.

As technology improves over the years, so do the tools law enforcement agencies have to fight crime. In the past, good detective work or the Science of Deduction, made famous by fictional detective Sherlock Holmes, was all that the police had to piece physical evidence together to solve a crime. Then slowly, as technology and knowledge improved, science has branched off …show more content…
DNA identification, when tested with a suitable number of loci, almost positively confirms the individuals present at a crime scene. In addition, it is substantially harder for a criminal to avoid leaving and remove DNA evidence from a crime scene. As such, it is now being used in conjunction with other traditional Forensic techniques producing fruitful results.

It has been used to aid in police investigations not only to convict individuals, but also to exonerate them. Hence, many people believe, possibly influenced by television shows like CSI, that DNA evidence is the silver bullet, or the trump card, to investigations.

DNA evidence can be used to aid in convicting criminals. In America, the first ever case that used DNA evidence in trial was the Tommie Lee Andrews case. Andrews was a serial rapist that lived in Florida. He would break into women’s homes in the middle of the night and proceed to rape them. DNA samples of semen obtained from the crime scene matched the DNA obtained from the blood of Andrews. Needless to say, the prosecution made use of this evidence to aid in his conviction. Today, Andrews is serving a twenty-two year prison sentence for rape, aggravated burglary and burglary (Rapist Convicted, …show more content…
DNA is not only the Prosecution’s weapon in courts. Once people started witnessing its power in court, they start being used in the defence and exoneration of individuals. Sometimes a wrongly convicted individual will have his case reopened and reviewed and in some cases, DNA evidence was able to clear their charges.

One case whereby DNA was able to exonerate an innocent man was the case of Ronald Keith Williamson. Williamson was wrongly convicted of the rape and murder of Debra Sue Carter in Ada and sentenced to death. He remained on death row for 11 years before DNA evidence and aspects of the Innocence Project exonerated him. Through questionable pressurizing interrogation tactics used by the Ada police, Williamson got frustrated and fabricated a confession just so he could have some peace. Little did he know that his ‘confession’, together with unreliable witnesses and flimsy evidence, was used to convict him of the rape and murder. Fortunately for him, his case was reviewed, the body was found, DNA evidence was used, Williamson was exonerated in 1999, and another individual Glen Gore was convicted of the crime in 2003 (Ron Williamson,