The study of DNA is a great discovery for legal purposes
because it opens up a powerful new way of identifying criminals in some cases. DNA
evidence has been used both to convict criminals and to establish the innocence of
people who have been convicted of crimes.
At times, the
perpetrator of a crime leaves traces of his/her DNA at the scene of the crime. Police
can preserve this DNA and use it to help identify the criminal. If a person is arrested
for the crime, DNA can be taken from them and compared with the DNA from the crime
scene. This can establish with a very high degree of certainty whether the person
arrested was the one who was present at the crime
scene.
DNA evidence can also be used in other ways.
Perhaps the most obvious of these is in issues of paternity. DNA testing can determine
for certain whether a certain man is the father of a particular child. This can be
important in some civil lawsuits.
In these ways (among
others), the study of DNA has been very important in the legal
arena.
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