Blood Evidence: How DNA Is Revolutionizing the Way We Solve Crimes
http://www.100md.com
《新英格兰医药杂志》
In their engaging book, Lee and Tirnady do much more than discuss the effect of the use of DNA analysis on crime investigations. Of course, advances in DNA-based technology have changed the way the police can build a case against a suspect, solve old, previously unsolvable crimes, identify the real perpetrator of a crime, and free persons who have been wrongly convicted. But Lee and Tirnady also explore the mysteries that DNA profiling has solved in fields as diverse as archeology, agriculture, genealogy, and paleontology. We can now assess the legitimacy of claims of lineage to the Iceman, the extinct mammal known as the quagga (zebras win out over horses), Mick Jagger, and French grapes. We can track the infiltration of genetically modified crops into our food system and verify the authenticity of experiments in cloning. And we can identify the remains of victims of war and other catastrophic events. The forensic use of DNA testing has so fundamentally altered our way of life that it has, as the authors conclude, "truly changed the world."
Matching DNA Profiles from a Drinking Glass (Top) and a Suspect (Bottom).
Courtesy of the Massachusetts State Police Crime Laboratory.
All of this is pretty remarkable when one considers that DNA typing made its first appearance in a criminal investigation in 1986. The technique is now so widely accepted that its reliability, the authors suggest, is no longer in doubt. The only method available for challenging the results of DNA typing is to question how the testing was done and by whom. This tactic was adopted by the defense in the trial of O.J. Simpson — a case that has to be included in a book about DNA, even if one wishes that one never had to read any more about it. The book devotes two chapters to this case and, oddly, does not mention Lee's role as a defense witness at the trial. His testimony about cockroaches in spaghetti provided a vivid image in support of the defense's theory that damning evidence should be discarded because it had been either contaminated or planted. Nonetheless, the authors present an unbiased and detailed examination of the forensic evidence offered at the Simpson trial. They suggest that the overriding lesson from the case is that laboratories must follow the highest professional standards in collecting, storing, and identifying evidence. Unfortunately, as recent scandals in police crime laboratories such as Houston's have shown, the lesson has not yet been learned.
The book introduces the reader to the complex moral and political issues that are a result of the extraordinary progress in the understanding and forensic use of DNA typing. Questions arise as to how to balance law enforcement's need for an expansive DNA data base against the individual's right to privacy. Cases in which DNA typing has led to exoneration — over 130 to date — have exposed the shortcomings of our criminal-justice system and raised questions about the legitimacy of the death penalty. The successful cloning of sheep and mice has led to questions about whether designer children and human cloning are around the corner and what we should do about that prospect.
However, the authors do not attempt to provide answers to these thorny issues, leaving that task instead to bioethicists. This book's mission is to explain the science of DNA to the layperson and to provide case histories that bring to life the science behind an investigation. Whether the object of the investigation is to get your man, your plant, your animal, or your pathogen, DNA typing has revolutionized the way in which an investigator approaches solving the puzzle. Lee and Tirnady have written a valuable book for those who are interested in learning more about the history of the forensic uses of DNA and in being drawn into the characters who have been part of its myriad accomplishments.
Jacqueline McMurtrie, J.D.
University of Washington School of Law
Seattle, WA 98195
jackiem@u.washington.edu(By Henry C. Lee and Frank)
Matching DNA Profiles from a Drinking Glass (Top) and a Suspect (Bottom).
Courtesy of the Massachusetts State Police Crime Laboratory.
All of this is pretty remarkable when one considers that DNA typing made its first appearance in a criminal investigation in 1986. The technique is now so widely accepted that its reliability, the authors suggest, is no longer in doubt. The only method available for challenging the results of DNA typing is to question how the testing was done and by whom. This tactic was adopted by the defense in the trial of O.J. Simpson — a case that has to be included in a book about DNA, even if one wishes that one never had to read any more about it. The book devotes two chapters to this case and, oddly, does not mention Lee's role as a defense witness at the trial. His testimony about cockroaches in spaghetti provided a vivid image in support of the defense's theory that damning evidence should be discarded because it had been either contaminated or planted. Nonetheless, the authors present an unbiased and detailed examination of the forensic evidence offered at the Simpson trial. They suggest that the overriding lesson from the case is that laboratories must follow the highest professional standards in collecting, storing, and identifying evidence. Unfortunately, as recent scandals in police crime laboratories such as Houston's have shown, the lesson has not yet been learned.
The book introduces the reader to the complex moral and political issues that are a result of the extraordinary progress in the understanding and forensic use of DNA typing. Questions arise as to how to balance law enforcement's need for an expansive DNA data base against the individual's right to privacy. Cases in which DNA typing has led to exoneration — over 130 to date — have exposed the shortcomings of our criminal-justice system and raised questions about the legitimacy of the death penalty. The successful cloning of sheep and mice has led to questions about whether designer children and human cloning are around the corner and what we should do about that prospect.
However, the authors do not attempt to provide answers to these thorny issues, leaving that task instead to bioethicists. This book's mission is to explain the science of DNA to the layperson and to provide case histories that bring to life the science behind an investigation. Whether the object of the investigation is to get your man, your plant, your animal, or your pathogen, DNA typing has revolutionized the way in which an investigator approaches solving the puzzle. Lee and Tirnady have written a valuable book for those who are interested in learning more about the history of the forensic uses of DNA and in being drawn into the characters who have been part of its myriad accomplishments.
Jacqueline McMurtrie, J.D.
University of Washington School of Law
Seattle, WA 98195
jackiem@u.washington.edu(By Henry C. Lee and Frank)