Has DNA testing led to significant improvements in the criminal justice system?

Question

if yes then how so

Answer 1

DNA has not made a significant improvement on the conviction rate, because there is no national database to automatically check submissions, so DNA is of little use without a suspect to compare. It is also possible the suspect does not have a sample on file. There is also no guarantee you will find DNA on scene, or if it is found, the suspect may be able to justify why it is there.

However, it has been successful in eliminating suspects, and occasionally frees someone from prison. If you are one of those people, I guess that would be significant to you.

Answer 2

Yes........by far and large, it has made a huge impact on policing.  

Answer 3

I don't think the numbers changed any but its been helping alot of innocent people get out of prison.Can you imagine doing time for a crime you didn't do?(murder,rape,child molesting,ect....)

Answer 4

Yes.  However, it isn't a guarantee that innocent people will not be executed.  DNA is available in fewer than 10% of all homicides.  Only 16 of the 129 exonerations of people on death row involved DNA.  (www.deathpenalty.org, click on innocence.)

For more about DNA and the criminal justice system, you can look at www.innocenceproject.org, which defends prisoners specifically when there is DNA evidence.  It is the best resource on this subject.

Answer 5

Yes it has.  It is the single most important piece of technology since fingerprint recognition. Now, as the DNA database grows every day there are more perpetrators linked to other crimes/unsolved crimes  with this technology.