Background Information
Crime scene investigation is in our daily lives. The most common type of biotechnology application to crime scene investigation is DNA fingerprinting which was developed in 1984 by British geneticist Sir Alec Jeffreys. It was created because Sir Alec Jefferys needed to use forensic science in order to convict a murderer, Colin Pitchfork in 1988. Many people recognize shows like CSI and Criminal Minds; however, these are not always scientifically true.
There are many steps in solving scientific cases. First, it is necessary to have an initial walk-through of the scene in order to find any visual evidence and get a feel for the overall situation. Not only do they have an initial walk-through, but in a second additional walk-through investigators document the scene by taking pictures and drawing sketches of what they see. Next, investigators find it crucial to collect all evidence that they feel may at some point in time be helpful in solving a specific case. Lastly, all of this evidence goes to the crime lab for in depth analysis with various chemicals and procedures. “What goes on at the crime scene is called crime scene investigation (or crime scene analysis), and what goes on in the laboratory is called forensic sceince.” Biotechnology is used in a variety of crime scene investigations.
The most common application of biotechnology is with DNA fingerprinting. With DNA fingerprinting, one is able to “chacterize organisms, track infection microbes, establish relationships between people and identify specific individuals.” DNA fingerprinting allows us to identify people involved in the criminal investigation because each person’s DNA fingerprint is unique. Even though this is crucial and normally works well, sometimes the process gives difficult data to read. Besides using DNA fingerprinting to help with investigations, many forensic scentitsts use trace eveidence which are transferred materials. These include animal or human hair, soil or plant material, a used facial tissue, a drop of blood on a T-shirt, a fiber from clothing, and even a used cigarette end. Even though it is possible and quite helpful to find DNA off of these objects, it is also sometimes difficult to distinguish between valid and artificial DNA.
DNA evidence has become so powerful in crime scene investigations and forensic sciece because, aside from identical twins, nobodys DNA is the same. Overall, biotechnology plays a huge roll in crime scene analysis. “This means that DNA collected from a crime scene can either link a suspect to the evidence or eliminate them which is why accurate DNA fingerprinting is critical as a crime solving tool.”
While forensic science is crucial in life, there are some challenges to research and scientific advancement in this area of biotechnology. Both personal safety and occupational safety are important when working in a science lab and in the field. With respect to a crime scene, there are three major hazards to consider: biohazards, chemical hazards, and physical hazards.
This application of biotechnology is still under development and there is much advancement that could be made. In the upcoming year, scientists hope to create a new type of technology that will more quickly help them identify a suspect. Recently, the Automated Fingerprint Identification System (AFIS) was created and has done wonders for fingerprint identification. With this new technology, rather than having the reports available within several months, the finished reports will now be completed in several weeks.
Biotechnology is huge in crime scene analysis and forensic scientists use it in their everyday lives.