! ! ! DNA analysis has signicantly improved police investigations by providing the potential to contribute to investigations in the following ways:!

! Solve particularly di"cult cases where all other investigative techniques have failed! ! Provide clues where there are no witnesses! ! Find application in an ever-widening range of cases! ! Reduce the number of wrongful arrests! ! Increase the reliability of evidence! ! Link together cases that otherwise could not be connected, such as local cases ranging from breaking and entering to homicide, multijurisdictional cases such as gang crimes, serial sexual assaults or murders, and major international investigations! ! The First Use of DNA! ! DNA analysis was introduced into policing in 1986 when o"cers from a local police service in a small borough in central England approached Dr. Alec Je#reys of the University of Leicester to ask whether this new technology might be able to assist in the investigation of two potentially linked sexual assault murders of two young girls.2 Je#reys analyzed samples from the deceased girls and developed DNA proles of the perpetrator in each crime, which were found to be identical. A suspect who had confessed to one of the crimes was found to have a di#erent DNA prole; it is an interesting sidebar to this story that the rst application of DNA in a police investigation resulted in the exoneration of the confessor to the crime.3 To this day, DNA continues to eliminate suspects who might have otherwise been convicted and identies those who might be wrongfully incarcerated.! !

With the DNA results obtained by Je#reys in hand, the local police organized a collection of blood samples from all 5,000 males in the small community in Leicestershire where the crimes had occurred. These samples unfortunately did not directly identify the suspect, because he was able to convince a friend to stand in for him. However, when the friend eventually confessed the ruse, the police had their suspect. Faced with the DNA evidence, Colin Pitchfork confessed his guilt.! ! While clearly an exciting time within the circles of forensic sciences and policing, the reality of the early days of DNA technology was that the technique could be applied only to the most serious cases. In the beginning, the availability of technical specialists was limited, the sample size needed for the RFLP analysis4 was rather large, and the length of time needed to complete the laboratory analysis narrowly restricted the application of the technique. However, once the impressive value of this service had been demonstrated to the justice system, technology was soon developed to improve the speed and sensitivity of the testing. These advancements quickly led to the widespread application of DNA testing in criminal investigations.! ! ! Investigative Benets of DNA Analysis! ! The judicious application of forensic science early in an investigation can lead to the development of investigative information that can save money, time, and resources for police agencies. The whole investigative process can be shortened by the inuence of such analysis on the direction of an investigation, by providing information that can be used to enhance conventional interrogative strategies and by limiting the contesting of the evidence in court. In many instances, trials are shortened or the need for a trial is eliminated altogether, further saving resources that can instead be deployed elsewhere, both for the police and the broader justice system. In instances of a guilty plea resulting from compelling evidence, the benet is not limited to monetary savings: victims are spared the emotional burden of reliving the crime at trial.! ! In the spring of 2003, 10-year-old Holly Jones went missing from her Toronto neighborhood. The day after her disappearance and over the next

few days, parts of her dismembered body were located on the shores of Lake Ontario. These were identied by DNA typing. In addition, a foreign DNA prole potentially belonging to the perpetrator was developed from ngernail scrapings.! ! The investigation of this case was a huge challenge for the Toronto Police Service; however, lead investigators recognized that forensic science could play a crucial role. Faced with the daunting task of door-to-door canvassing of hundreds of possible sex o#enders and more than 2,000 tips from the general public, the traditional police investigation was considerably assisted by information provided by the forensic science laboratory. First, an examination of tapings of the victim by a trace evidence scientist provided the clue that the child had been in contact with a green carpet. During the door-to-door canvassing by front-line police o"cers armed with this information, a potential suspect was identied. After this person refused to volunteer a DNA sample, undercover police surveillance facilitated the collection of a discard DNA sample for comparison to the foreign DNA prole that had been developed. The proles matched, the suspect was arrested, and his apartment was searched. DNA analysis revealed traces of the victims blood. Faced with the evidence, the suspect confessed and entered a guilty plea.! ! Prior to the development of DNA analysis, it was not uncommon, especially in cases of sexual assault that caused considerable anxiety to the general public, that the police, working to alleviate community concerns, would make an arrest only to nd that their evidence was not su"cient to proceed to trial; in some instances this would result in suspects ling civil lawsuits against the police. Also, when an investigation has apparently ended in the apprehension of the wrong suspect, valuable time is lost at the critical early stages of the investigation. Police now rely on DNA analysis in cases such as these and, with appropriate use of resources, it is possible to execute an arrest after the laboratory has completed the testing. It is now technologically feasible to generate DNA results in less than 48 hours, when necessary.! ! ! DNA Databanks!

! With the creation of state and national DNA databanks, investigators have another important tool that can provide investigative information. Although jurisdictions di#er in the types of o#enses that qualify for inclusion in their databanks, there is no doubt that these resources are helping to solve crimes that would have otherwise been left unsolved. In England, where the rst national DNA databank was created, samples can be collected for all o#enses on arrest; therefore, England has the largest per capita databank in the world. As the value of these databanks has become apparent, legislators continue to broaden the base of qualifying crimes, and some jurisdictions have enacted legislation requiring samples from all felons.! ! The benet of Canadas National DNA Databank was demonstrated within months of its creation. A murder case that had remained unsolved for 12 years and had encompassed more than 1,000 suspects was reinvestigated due to the advent of the DNA databank. When the perpetrators DNA prole was loaded into the databank as a result of his incarceration from an unrelated conviction, police investigators were provided with the information with which to solve the crime. Due to the passage of time, prosecutors had to rely on the DNA results as the cornerstone of their evidence at the trial, in which the individual was found guilty of the murder.! ! DNA analysis also provides police investigators with not only the ability to develop leads for current active cases but also the opportunity to return to older, unsolved investigations. By working in partnership with scientists in the forensic science laboratory, investigators can review evidence that might have been collected for another purpose or that might have been of limited value when examined by the conventional technologies available at the time of the original investigation.! ! In Ontario, one such case was that of Linda Shaw, a young university student who was abducted, raped, and murdered in 1990 as she returned from an Easter visit home using one of the provinces busiest highways. Her death had a considerable impact on many young women who often traveled alone, and it remained unsolved for 15 years. Knowingc# that a DNA prole of the perpetrator had been developed from samples taken

from the victim, an investigator from the Ontario Provincial Police reviewed evidence items and found that early in the investigation, hair samples had been collected from 40 persons of interest for microscopic hair comparison. Knowing also that present-day techniques allow for DNA extraction from a hair root sheath, the investigator asked the forensic biologist whether the hair samples could be tested. A microscopic examination showed that DNA analysis was possible for 20 of the hair samples, and a matching prole was developed from one of them. The perpetrator was identied as an individual who had committed suicide many years before, after he had been arrested on an unrelated matter.! ! By working in partnership with forensic scientists, police investigators can develop systematic plans for the reexamination of unsolved serious crimes. This has the value of providing a level of comfort to the victims or their families, an appropriate penalty to the accused on conviction, and, in some cases, preventing the commission of further crimes.! ! Working with the laboratory provides investigators with sound scientic advice for selecting the most appropriate samples for testing; often, the laboratory can assist in locating the evidence samples. Mary Jane Burton, a Virginia forensic scientist, is known for having meticulously saved samples cut from the evidence items in her case les.5 These have recently been used to reopen investigations and exonerate wrongfully convicted individuals many years after Burtons death. Ironically, this practice is forbidden in a modernday, accredited laboratory environment; however, it has been replaced by more appropriate practices for storing, locating, and identifying potential evidentiary materials for future examination.! ! !